ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 11pm - June 25, 2026

Episode Date: June 26, 2026

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Right now, live coverage from your local news leader, preparing you for tomorrow starting tonight and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. And right now at 11 concerns about public safety after two guys escaped from the Wayne County, sorry, the Vance County Jail, and a third got some keys and made it to the perimeter of the Vance County Jail this week. And former inmates and families of those behind bars at that jail also concerned about conditions. inside calling it chaos. And now a county commissioner wants the sheriff to answer questions about what's happening inside

his jail. Plus the Kerrytown Council passing a new budget with a commitment to public safety and a property tax increase that is less than proposed will break down what else is included in that $580 million spending plan. But the big story tonight here on eyewitness news is the return of the dangerous heat and humidity temperatures climbing into the 90s today. But it'll be even warmer tomorrow and into the weekend. And there's also a chance for some showers and storms around here.

We're glad you're joining us here for eyewitness News at 11. I'm Steve Daniels. And I'm Lauren Johnson. Good news. If you like the heat, it's on and it will stick around for at least the next seven days. Chief Mnourologist, Don Chueniker, in the First Alert Forecast Center. Don, I saw your seven day. It's full of 90s and there's some 100s on there too.

Yeah, we'll talk about those hundreds coming up in a little bit later in the newscast, but it's getting it warm over the next several days. Now, tomorrow 94, 97 on Saturday. It is a first alert day because of the storm risk. And we could see a few scattered storms late day on Sunday. Live look at First Alert Doppler Net. We always start with the most powerful network of live radars, but tonight it's dry. Not much to show you in the way of rainfall.

So we head live into downtown Fayetteville. Self-help sky cam showed a very mild 79 degrees right now. Clear skies and a southwest wind at eight miles an hour. Today we saw a mix of clouds and sunshine officially was partly sunny. We went to 88 degrees. But today is the last day in the 80s as we fast forward into tomorrow. There's an isolated storm risk late in the day. Sunrise happening at 601 and a warm 94 degrees.

We'll talk more about that heat and humidity tomorrow, why there's a better chance for severe weather on Saturday. That's in your first alert seven-day forecast coming up in just a bit. Stephen Lawrence. Okay, Don, thanks. And it's really important to take care of yourself and the people around you during these stretches of dangerous heat. So here are some safety reminders for you. Drink plenty of water. Stay in air-conditioned areas when possible.

Avoid direct sun exposure during peak heat hours and limit outdoor activities and take frequent breaks in the shade. You should also check on your elderly neighbors, the young kids and pets too and never leave children or pets. inside a parked vehicle. New here at 11 concerns continue to come into the eyewitness newsroom about the conditions inmates are facing inside the Vance County detention center. Those concerns are coming to light after an inmate accused of murder tried to escape earlier this week. And that attempt happened just weeks after two other inmates escaped from the Vance County Jail.

They were on the run for nearly six days before they were finally caught near Asheville. Tom George spoke to a former inmate in Vance County who says he was ignored by guards when he called for help while having chest pains. Well, people have been protesting outside the Vance County Jail for days now. They say this has become a safety issue, both for the people inside who they say are in unsafe conditions, the workers who they say aren't able to keep a handle on the situation, and people on the outside feeling unsafe because someone tried to escape again. That was hell in there.

That's how John Grissom described the night he spent inside the Vance County Jail, arrested for allegedly abusing 911, a charge he's disputing. He says he was placed in a separate area for his safety. He didn't have but just a small window to look out. He says his chest began hurting. I kept hollering for the guards to come down. Nobody wouldn't come. I banged on the door.

I even kicked on the door lying so they can hear. And it stirred the other inmates. And they tried to help by calling. And one of them yelled and told me, I might as well forget it. Nobody's coming down here. He says he waited it out until a friend bonded him out the next day. But he says what he saw in there made him want to speak out for others on the inside. And I really feel sorry for them.

And on something's got to be done about this situation. The Vance County Jail has faced issues of crowding, fights, and staffing issues, and now an escape and an attempted escape, one where two inmates made it out and then ended up in Asheville. And more recently, someone who apparently got the keys and was injured trying to hop a fence. Micah, who spent over a year incarcerated, says he's not surprised. It's a mess. I mean, it's a jungle. It's nothing but straight chaos down there.

There's too much going on. The CEOs, they can't get it under control. It's like they scared when they come down there in the dorm and stuff like that. Now on the other side, he's working and life is good. No looking back. No looking back. Kelly Roberts' son is inside right now. My biggest fear for him in there is the safety.

She says she last spoke with him Saturday. My son is telling me that he is brushing his teeth with a cloth because they have not provided a toothbrush to him. She and others have been standing outside calling for change. This place needs to be shut down. They do not need to keep operating, and I can't understand why the state has not stepped in to shut it down. If they're not safe inside of there because they don't have enough people to watch over them, and then they're escaping, wouldn't they make us unsafe? We took those concerns to Commissioner Valencia Perry.

She says the county has already approved the funding request that they got, and so she wants to find out what's going wrong. We need to get up out of our seats and go in there and see. That's real talk. Okay. So if we're concerned that we need to come from behind the benches and go look. She's now pushing fellow commissioners to have a public safety meeting so the sheriff can answer their questions. Have they said when they'll let you know?

I haven't received anything back yet. But you know what? I'm going to keep knocking. Yeah. And Commissioner Perry tells me she's going to work to get those fellow commissioners on board for that public safety meeting. We'll let you know when that happens. In Vance County, Tom, George. ABC 11, eyewitness news.

Tom, thank you, and eyewitness news did reach out to the sheriff in Vance County. Curtis Brame, about those concerns. So far, we have not heard back from the sheriff. New at 11 charges have been filed in connection to a deadly shooting in Johnston County. It happened this morning outside the AAF Flanders manufacturing plan in Smithfield. Chopper 11 flying over the scene. 39-year-old, Hesuzuzes, Bermudez, is charged with first-degree murder. After police say he shot and killed his wife, Lorena Keperik Paz in the plant's parking lot.

Bermudez is being held in the Johnston County Detention Center, without bond. His first court appearance is scheduled for June 26th. An investigation into that shooting remains ongoing tonight. Let's go to Wake County now where a man is facing charges tonight after being involved in two different crashes. He's also accused of stealing a car from the first crash scene. It all happened about 7 o'clock this morning. There was a crash on 1010 road near old stage road. An investigators say a man involved in the crash stole a nearby car and then he took off. He later crashed in downtown Raleigh. That man is 40-year-old Robert Bradley. He was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Bradley is charged.

with DWI, felony hit and run, reckless driving, and two other traffic violations. Three people have been arrested in connection with a cold case murder in Robeson County that dates back 10 years. 18-year-old Sarah Graham vanished in February of 2015 and was declared dead earlier this month. She was last seen leaving her home to go to work, but she never arrived. Today, Sarah's stepmother and the stepmother's two sons were arrested at their home in Fairmont. Connie Graham is charged with first-degree murder, altering, stealing, and destroying evidence and two counts of felony conspiracy, she appeared in court this afternoon and was denied bond. Her sons are both charged with conspiracy. They each received a $1 million bond.

Tonight, the Kerry Town Council approved a new budget that includes a property tax increase of 2.75 for every $100 of assessed value. That's down from the original plan of $3.75. It's a $579 million budget and clears the way for the hiring of new officers and firefighters, the town calling it a major commitment to public safety. Jemise Price live at Town Hall where council members say they had to make some really tough decisions tonight, Jemise. Lauren and Steve, they say this was truly a balance of working on public safety and making that investment while also knowing that this investment could hurt some people who are struggling to make ends meet. All in favor, please say aye. Aye.

Any opposed motion carries unanimously. A new budget for the town of Kerry and what the mayor calls the first. phase of a three-year public safety recovery program after what he describes as years of mistrust and mismanagement by former town manager Sean Stiegel. The result has been a significant backlog of public safety and infrastructure needs. He says public safety needs went unaddressed for too long. The police department is currently understaffed by 89 officers. at the same time, our growing community requires two additional fire stations.

The new budget will fund 55 new positions, including 6 911 operators, six firefighters, and 21 new police officers. We never want to be in a position where someone calls for help, and we say we couldn't get there fast enough because we didn't have enough people. With the commitment to the people of Kerry comes cost. The budget calls for it. 2.75 cent property tax rate increase when some neighbors say they are already stretched. That comes on top of the increased inflation and a higher cost of living pressures that we're all feeling across the board. The rate increase for a home valued at $650,000 is about $15,000 a more per month on top of a property rate increase at the county level. Town council members say they felt conflicted thinking about their constituents. I'm also nervous because I know that this is going to create a burden for some families.

I hear from people that a tax increase, it will be very difficult for them to be able to pay their taxes. Ultimately, the town council says this was the best budget decision that will protect and serve people. We're making a very significant investment in this budget because that really is where it's life or death. And there's also an investment when it comes to new positions in the budget and the budget. accounting department including a new budget director and two audit focused finance positions. This is an effort to increase transparency and oversight again after the council accused the town manager of mismanaging funds during his tenure. We're live and carry. Jemise Price, ABC 11, eyewitnesses. The mayor continues to say they have a lot of cleaning up to do after that

situation. Jamis, thank you. New here at 11, a bill moving through the legislature could ban homeless encampments across the state. State. Senators have approved a bill that would prevent people from campaign on public property. The legislation does include an exception. Local governments can designate certain places for public sleeping, but they'd need to provide access to bathrooms, running water, mental health and substance abuse services while banning drug use at the same time. The bill would also create drug-free zones for people who are homeless.

People caught selling, making, or delivering drugs in those zones would be charged with a felony. Supporters say the bill will improve public safety, but opponents are arguing it criminalizes homelessness instead of addressing the root. causes. The bill now heads back to the House for consideration at the legislature. So to come here on eyewitness news at 11, search and rescue efforts continue tonight in Venezuela as hundreds of people are feared dead following those two massive earthquakes. Plus the major decisions handed down today by the U.S. Supreme Court and the rulings that we're still waiting for. And Don is checking on the temps outside right now. And it's mild out there tonight with some warmer air heads in as we go through the day tomorrow. And this will be lit up tomorrow with some shower chances. We'll time them out for you

and the difference between tomorrow's showers and Saturday storms coming up next. Great news. The federal EV rebate is back. Eligible customers get up to $5,000 with the federal EVAP rebate on select 2027-volt and 26 Equinox EV models. Visit your local Chevrolet dealer today for more details. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if?

Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what-if. Just style. you love and quality you can trust. Visit wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. New here at 11 in New York, defense attorneys for Luigi Mangione and federal prosecutors are talking about a possible plea deal according to ABC News sources. Those sources saying it's not clear

how close the two sides came to an agreement before those negotiations stopped. Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after his arrest for shooting and killing United Healthcare CEO in Midtown Manhattan. His state trial is scheduled to begin in September. is scheduled for next year. Like any criminal defendant, Mangione can change his plea at any time before or even during the trial. ABC News reached out to Mangione's defense team and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York both declined to comment.

In Washington, the U.S. Supreme Court handed President Trump a pair of wins on two major immigration cases. One of them clears the way for the White House to restart its controversial asylum policy. The policy is focused on curbing the number of migrants processed at the southern border who claimed to be leaving political or racial or religious persecution back in their home country. That policy would then turn them back before they ever stepped foot on American soil. The High Court also ruled in a case dealing with temporary protected status. That lets migrants from certain countries facing problems to legally remain and work here in the United States. The court said the Trump administration could end those protections,

potentially impacting millions of people from foreign countries who are here right now. The High Court is still expected to issue a handful of major rulings before the end of the current term. That includes a decision on the Trump administration's challenge to birthright citizenship and a case on state laws that allow mail and ballots to be counted even if they arrive after election day. We're also waiting for a ruling on bans on transgender women and girls competing on women's and girls school sports teams. There's also a case centered on the president's power to fire members of independent federal agencies without cause. The next opinion announcement day for the Supreme Court is coming up on Monday. Let's go to South America now where two very powerful earthquakes rocked Venezuela last night. killing 235 people and entering more than 4,000.

And experts are afraid those numbers will grow because tens of thousands of people are unaccounted for tonight. Now American search and rescue teams are preparing to head to Venezuela to help. ABC's Melissa Adon has more on the desperate race against the clock to find those survivors. This is the terrifying moment. Two massive earthquakes struck Venezuela. One after another. A 7.2 magnitude quake followed just 39 seconds later.

by an even stronger 7.5, the strongest in the country's history. The coastal city of Lagoira, one of the hardest hit. High rises reduced to mountains of concrete and twisted metal. Rescuers pulling this woman out of the debris. She says she survived by holding onto a doorframe while she watched her friend disappear. Venezuelan TV showing three children, saved from the destruction, but covered in dust. Families urgently searching by. flashlight. Patients evacuated from damaged hospitals lining the street. Venezuela already facing

a crisis just months after a U.S. Special Forces raid removed President Nicholas Maduro, the country's infrastructure, already in dire shape. We are not prepared for this. We've been living under our government, neglecting every aspect of the civilian life for the past almost 30 years. So none of us was prepared for this. Now, an international mission to find the victims has begun. At least 25,000 are still accounted for, and experts fear the death toll could land in the thousands in the coming days and weeks. Dozens of search and rescue professionals and dog teams launching from Virginia and Southern California to assist. We're going to help them out.

The U.S. State Department said that it would provide $150 million to aid groups in Venezuela. Melissa Donne, ABC News, Los Angeles. You know, think about the help they're going to need there, the people there, and then they're rebuilding. That's going to take years. Yeah, when you see the video, too, you're just reminded how strong Mother Nature can be in certain situations. Yeah, that's just incredible. All right. All right.

All right, don's back with us right now to talk about that storm chance going into the weekend. Yeah, and we could see stronger storm chances on Saturday. Now, the one big thing to remember tonight, the next couple of days, pop up storms. We're going to have chances tomorrow again on Saturday and also into Sunday. Here's your first alert predictor forecast model list time I'm out for you. So as we go through tomorrow by 6 o'clock, we're starting to see some scattered showers and thunderstorms around. And then as we go through the overnight, that will shut down. And then as we get into Saturday to late day, 5, 6 o'clock, here's the next round of showers and storms.

But this one has a higher potential of becoming severe. Why? Well, we're going to take a look at something called Cape. Basically, this is thunderstorm fuel, right? So if we look at this, as we go from tomorrow at 5 o'clock, we're seeing low to moderate cape across most of the region, starts to get a little higher down east. That's the thunderstorm fuel. Now, if we run this ahead into Saturday, watch what changes. We start to see high and even some extreme cape, and that just means there's more energy in the atmosphere.

And that's why the storms tomorrow, they're not going to have as much fuel. On Saturday, the potential is there to see some damaging straight line winds. And because of that, the storm prediction center has put the entire viewing area, under a category to risk now. We'll keep an eye on that. That's Saturday with that chance at some storms. Sunday 95, Monday, 93, Tuesday, 96. And oh, by the way, we start the month of July with triple digits.

Tonight, we are dry out there. Live look on the first alert Doppler net. Not much to showing the way of rainfall. We go Manny Oda Murphy tonight, 70s across the state. 64 out in Boone, 77 right now down in Charlotte, 74 in the triad, 73 up in Richmond, 76 in Raleigh and 77 in Lumberton. Tonight we'll see those numbers dropping down to about 70 for the low. That's a couple degrees above average.

70 Raleigh, 71 Fayetteville, 69 in Sanford, and 67 in Rhone Oak Rapids. Then tomorrow, those numbers back into the 90s again, that 30 to 40% chance of showers or storms later in the day. It's a little higher down in the sand hills. You've got a better chance at seeing some of that rain. And the numbers topping out in the low 90s. Back to that seven-day forecast. The heat really moves in after those 90s tomorrow, 93, Fort Bragg, 91, Lillington, 90, Carrie, Holly Springs, 91 in Smithfield, 88 and Henderson, 92, Tarboro, 93, and Wilson.

And then the upper 90s on Saturday, out Raleigh going on. Most of that looks good. It's late in the day that could be a problem. Sunday 95, Monday, 93, 96, Tuesday. Start of July, 100 degrees for the temperatures, factor the humidity in. and it could go 105 to 109 for the feels like numbers. We got some serious heat to watch out. Yeah.

And we've got to keep our eye on the cape. Yeah, we do. Convective available potential energy. Okay, now we get it. Now it's all making sense. Yeah. Don, thanks. Sure. As Don showed us out, Raleigh Pride is returning this weekend,

and it's put together by the LGBT Center of Raleigh. Thousands will gather on Fayetteville Street for live music, local artists, a beer garden, and a kid's own. So here's what you need to know before you go. Street closures start at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning along Fayetteville Street between Martin Street and the south end of City Plaza. Also, Davy Street between Salisbury Street and Wilmington Street will be closed off. The closures expand on Saturday through 11 p.m. That includes Fayetteville Street between Morgan and Martin and Hargett and Martin Streets between Salisbury and Wilmington.

You'll be able to find free parking in the city's five owned and operated parking garages. The festival kicks off tomorrow night with an 18 and older event from 6 until 10 p.m. But the Saturday event, welcome to all ages from noon until seven, ABC 11 is a proud sponsor. Okay, then next weekend, we hope you'll join us for a Fourth of July party. Raleigh's Dix Park bringing back the fireworks show and live performances for America's 250th birthday. And eyewitness news is proud to be the presenting sponsor. The fun kicks off in the mid-afternoon, runs through the night and you can watch it all right here on ABC 11. Still ahead the next time you open a bag of M&M, something may be missing why some of the colors are being removed from the classic candy.

This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer. Easy, breathable, and effortlessly cool. With a fit that creates natural movement and a wide leg that feels modern, not overwhelming. Plus, that signature, wait, for this price, moment.

Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg. New at 11, the next time you reach for a bag of eminent, you may notice some colors are missing. Mars Wrigley says it's producing a version of the classic candy without certain dyes. They're on a list of artificial colors. Regulators have flagged. The candy maker says the new bags of M&Ms without blue and brown will be available on Amazon later this year. Other M&M products will still contain those original colors.

The company says it's also working on changes for Skittles, Starburst, and some of its other products. So if you want to avoid those, you got to go to Amazon. You need to order them from Amazon. Okay. The ball game. The ball games there in New York City. That's right. That's going to do it for us here tonight. Thanks so much for watching.

Jimmy Kimmel Live is next. Remember, ABC11 eyewitness News is always on at ABC11.com, Disney Plus, and everywhere you stream. We'll see you back there tomorrow. ABC11 eyewitness News is sponsored by Capitol Chevrolet. Together, let's drive. Shop Capital Chevrolet.com.