ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at Noon - February 27, 2026

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

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Breaking right now at noon. A suspicious device is found at a church and garner and safely destroyed what we're learning from police. Plus, Crystal Mangum wants at the center of the Duke Lacrosse case out of prison this afternoon after serving time for a deadly stabbing. A deadly shooting at a pizza place in Durham, a suspect being held without bond after facing a judge this morning. What we're learning about him and the victim. And Bill Clinton testifies before Congress today in New York over Jeffrey Epstein connections. it is the first time a former president is compelled to speak. Right now, live coverage from your local news leader, today's top stories you need to know, and your first alert forecast.

Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. And we are following breaking news right now at noon. A suspicious device is found in the parking lot of a church in Garner. Thank you for joining us. I'm Barbara Gibbs. I remember repent of this all started around 7 o'clock this morning at the Capitol Church on US 70 in Garner. Police say the object was determined to be a hazardous device and it was safely destroyed. The area was evacuated as that occurred and thankfully no one was hurt. All the roads

have since reopened. Police say at this stage of their investigation, there is no indication this incident was religiously motivated. We're going to continue to monitor this story for any breaking developments. We'll keep you posted. All right, let's go to meteorologist Steve Stewart with the forecast on this Friday. Hey, Steve. Hey, Steve. Hey, guys. Yeah, outside right now, we're looking at Generally just overcast skies with some light showers around. Had a lot of rain early this morning in the sandals. That's pushed away a little bit. We'll keep a few more spotty light showers going for the next couple of hours

and likely going to be stuck in these upper 40s around the triangle, maybe up around 50, 51. You see the bulk of the rain is pushing east, but still a sliver of showers now up just north of Durham. We still have some light showers in and around Durham. We see how that's kind of lifting north right now. But rain is moving out of Fayetteville for the most part. These light showers continue moving up Interstate 85.

Got a little ways to go. Maybe another two, two and a half hours or so. But notice as we get later in the afternoon, rain coming to an end, but the clouds aren't going away. They're going to stay with us through the night and early into tomorrow morning. 47 and the North Hills got some rain around. Due point about 46 with the northeast breeze at seven miles an hour. Most of us dealing with mid to upper 40s,

but low 40s there in Oxford and low 50s down in the sand hills at this time. Evening plan here if you're heading on out to see winter, tonight at Lenovo Center. Numbers falling to the 40s, likely going to be dried as the clouds are going to hang tough for sure. Boy, make some plans this weekend looks fantastic, especially on Sunday. More on that coming up in just a few minutes. All right. Steve, thank you. We are in the breaking news center now. Crystal Mangum has walked out of prison, a free woman.

You may recall Mangum gain national attention after admitting to falsely accusing three Duke lacrosse players of rape. And this morning's prison release comes after she was found guilty of the 2011 deadly stabbing of her boyfriend, Reginald Day. Let's go to Sean Coffey. He's joining us live outside the women's correctional institution with more on her release. Hi Sean. Yeah, hi Amber and Barbara. You just mentioned Mangum was thrust into the national spotlight in 2006 when she levied those sexual assault allegations after members of the Duke lacrosse team had hired her as a dancer for one of their parties. And this morning just before 10 a.m. she walked out of the women's correctional

institution here in Raleigh as a free woman and in to a correction's vehicle more than a decade after she was convicted of murdering her then boyfriend Reginald Day. Now Mangum claimed that was in self-defense. And that murder case followed an attempted murder charge of another boyfriend Milton Walker in 2010 before that case was dropped. But it was the Duke LaCross case that Mangum is still perhaps best remembered for. Accusations later proven to be false, but that captivated the national conversation around race and the justice system. We spoke with former ABC 11 reporter Tamara Gibbs Franklin, who covered Mangum's legal troubles extensively about the legacy of that case.

There was a lot going on underneath the surface. This case had racial undertones. It had clasp undertones. It had town versus gown. Here you have a baby ivy sitting in the middle of the Bull City, but you also have a city that is really economically struggling for some communities. And so there was tension there. A corrections officer tells us that Mangum's been taken to Durham now to a friend's residence

where she'll be staying for the near term. We're live in Raleigh, Sean Coffee. 11. I wait his news. All right, Sean. Thank you so much. Now at noon, the suspect charged with killing a man at Randy's Pizza in Durham makes his first court appearance. Elena Athens joins us now from the courthouse with developments in this case. Elena, good afternoon. Good afternoon to you, Barbara.

Yeah, police say the 30-year-old from Morrisville shot and killed Muhammad Ali. Yesterday inside a restaurant, we are just learning that the victim was an employee at that spot. But in court today, we did not get any new information on what led up to this incident. Your Honor, I do not have a police report on this case at this moment. I don't believe anyone in my office does either. So I do not know the specific details. Isaiah Rawlinson appeared on video this morning and was formally charged with first-degree murder. The defense argued that Rawlinson has no criminal history and is currently

working. The judge denied his bond. Rawlinson will remain behind bars at the Durham County Jail. We found a crew cleaning up today at Randy's Pizza on South Miami Boulevard. Officers received a call Thursday just before 5 p.m. about shots fired and when they arrived, police found Ali shot to death. People were dining inside the eatery when that shooting happened. The pizzeria posted on social media, it's Miami Boulevard location is closed until further notice. Randy Smith, who is the only of this spot did issue a statement about what occurred inside his place of business, saying in that statement in part we extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of our team member. This is an unimaginable loss. I did reach out to

police and working to see if the victim and suspect did know each other. We're live in Durham. Elena Athens ABC 11. Iwitness news. Elana thank you. The father of a Georgia teen suspected of killing four people in the Appalachie High School shooting takes this. stand today. Colin Gray faces 29 charges in connection to the shooting. ABC's Christiane Cordero has more now from Washington. Today on the ninth day of his own trial, the father of the suspected Appalachie high school shooter takes the stand. Colin Gray has pleaded not guilty to the 29 charges he faces, including second degree murder. I'm telling you that he had a healthy respect for weapons.

They stayed where I told them to stay. And in the heat of the moment, he never once made a threat to me or his sisters or brother or anybody that I know of going for the gun. Yesterday, prosecutors played surveillance footage from inside the school, they say, shows his son Colt carrying the AR-15-style rifle covered by a poster board. Colin cried watching surveillance video prosecutors say shows his son, firing the gun through the school. Four people were killed. Colin says he bought his son a rifle to bond with him through hunting and target shooting. But he's accused of ignoring signs Colt was

mentally unstable. Through testimonies, jurors have been told Colt had violent outbursts, idolize other mass shooters, and rarely went to school. Colin read investigators this message. His son sent him the day of the massacre. Out of the blue, he says, I'm sorry. It's not your fault. Colt's younger sister, testified earlier this week, telling the court there were at least three unlocked guns in their house and that her dad tried pressuring her into downplaying the guns to police. Did you ever talk to him specifically about taking the gun away from Colt? Did he ever do that? The son, Colt Gray, is still awaiting his own trial. He has pleaded not guilty to the 55 counts he faces, including four counts of murder. He is 16 years old. Christia on Cordero, ABC News, Washington.

Happening now, the state highway patrol is searching for the driver who hit a pedestrian and took off in Cumberland County overnight. Eyewitness news on the scene at Dunn and Murphy Roads in Eastover. EMS arriving to find the victim in the middle of the road, seriously injured. Troopers tell eyewitness news the intersection was poorly lit and not marked with crosswalks. Federal Corps documents are shedding new light on the man charged with killing Joey Adams and Garner. Investigators say road rage may have been a factor in the shooting. That man, Solomon Owens, reportedly engaged in a gun battle with Raleigh Police when they tried to arrest him last Thursday.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Garner Police took out a murder warrant for Solomon Owens related to the road rage killing of Joey Adams. According to documents, Owen's girlfriend said the two were making a door dash delivery from Raleigh to Garner when she fell asleep. She told officers that she woke up to the sounds of six to seven gunshots and looked over to see the victim slumped over wearing a yellow construction vest. The girlfriend said Owens later showed her a Facebook post about the shooting, and Owens told her that the victim wouldn't let her over, so he handled it. The superintendent of Durham Public Schools releases the budget proposal, the suggestion that he have pay increases for staff. And a black-owned bourbon company in the Bull City honors Hillside High, all while making a name in the whiskey world. Eyewitness News. We are Local News Week Nights 4 to 630 and 11. Durham Public School Superintendent Dr. Anthony Lewis presenting his budget to the school board.

The proposal calls for an increase in spending of nearly $16 million for the next fiscal year. Under the plan, school support staff would see a 5% pay raise. The proposal also calls for a pay supplement of $100 per month for transportation safety assistance. And there would also be nearly $11 million in the continuation budget to cover things like state-mandated salary increases, hikes and insurance and utilities. From the classroom to the barrel, how Durham Friends turned Hillside Pride into a fast-growing bourbon brand. And we'll hear from people who knew one of the founders of the first black sorority in the U.S., her legacy still living in Rocky Mount. And former President Bill Clinton faces lawmakers today testifying about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

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To see how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people, visit servicenow.com. Eye witness news continues spotlighting people in products that are North Carolina made. And today we are headed to Durham to meet the makers of a black-owned bourbon company using the heritage of Durham's Hillside High School to make a big splash in the world of whiskey. Jesse Carpenter is a 1993 graduate of Durham's Hillside High School, but Jesse will be the first to tell you that he graduated from the Old Hillside, the former building on Concord and Lawson Street. So when he and his lifelong Durham friends started their own bourbon company six years ago,

they branded it Old Hillside Bourbon as an homage to one of the oldest historically black high schools in the country. Not because of the school mainly, it's because of the camaraderie that all of us built going through Hillside. So Hillside is a lifestyle, not just a school, friendship and camaraderie. That's what we do. In tonight's North Carolina made, our Joel Brown, will explore the original story of this now six-year-old bourbon brand that is winning over notoriously finicky bourbon critics and selling more bottles than ever before. That's later tonight on eyewitness news. I like that name. Old Hillside.

That's great. All right, I mean this is wrapping up its Black History Month coverage in Rocky Mount, where one of the founders of the nation's first black sororities is buried. Yeah, Anna Easter Brown is one of the original nine founding members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, which was founded January 15th, 1908. Years after graduating from Howard University, she settled in Rocky Mount here in North Carolina, where she taught African American studies at Booker T. Washington High School for more than 30 years. Few people are alive today that actually knew Brown personally, but Iwood's news spoke with

one of her former students who is now 103 years old. Miss Brown and a few others were teachers who prepared for the classroom. Everybody knew they prepared for the classroom. And so you prepared too, as a student when you went in that classroom, you knew she experienced. you to be ready. Wow. Race and Culture Reporter Akila Davis will be sharing the trailblazing story

of Anna Easter Brown's legacy and impact in Rocky Mount today. More of her report airing tonight here at 5 o'clock. Wow, fascinating. I think it's fascinating that, you know, she's 103, Miss Katie Jenkins and just incredible.

If people are just living so long now, but it's remarkable. And so much we can learn, you know what I mean? Yes, living history. Yeah. Let's hope we're learning some good things about the forecast. I can for the weekend. Yes, the rest of the afternoon, not the prettiest with the clouds.

It's chilly out there. We got some light showers continuing. A lot of the rain that we had in the sand hills is pushed off to the east, though. But cloudy skies are going to remain. The rain's going to come to an end, though, for the most part. Fantastic weekend. Sunday's a better half. Get out and enjoy it.

It's going to be wonderful. A dramatic drop, though, Monday and Tuesday. Temperatures come crashing down. Monday's going to be the coldest day. And we'll start to moderate quickly. And look at what happens. Look at this trend of 70s coming our way as we get into Thursday, Friday and next weekend could be flirting with 80 degrees. So some warmth is coming. There's a bulk of the rain we had this morning in the sand hills. It's pushed to the east. We still have a band of showers now north of Durham all the way up Interstate 85. And that continues to lift north. Drizzler spotty light showers in northern parts of Way County. But notice as we get around three, four this afternoon is pretty much winding down. Now the clouds aren't going away. They're going to be. be with us through the overnight hours and then tomorrow morning might have some clouds but it's going to get a lot better tomorrow 47 is still wet out at north hills with a light breeze at about seven miles an hour 40s north 50s to the south the numbers won't budge much as we go through the next few hours or so heading out to see seth meyers tonight at the deep pack chilly cloudy but it will be dry at that time temperature is falling to the mid 40s when you head home so 74 on sunday will be nice and sunny a great day to get out Clouds will increase probably later in the day.

This front's going to move through overnight and maybe we'll catch a spotty shower. We'll see if this moisture can make it in here to bring some more showers overnight into early Tuesday morning. But what a drop in temperatures. And then, of course, once we get past that, the ridge of high pressure is going to build in. We're going to see some warmth coming our way, really up there in those mid-upper 70s as we get into the end of next week and all the way into the upcoming weekend. So highs were pretty much already happened this morning. We're going to hover in those upper 40s through the afternoon. Rain coming to an end.

And then tonight, low temperatures likely in the 40s, upper 30s in our northern counties. And again, the clouds are going to hang tough. Could be some patchy areas of fog. But after some morning clouds, it'll be wonderful tomorrow. Pleasant afternoon, mid-60s, 74 as we welcome spring on our Sunday and a crash in temperatures Monday. And Tuesday, watch out for some spotty light showers around. Wednesday warming up to near 70 and then look at Thursday and Friday of next week. Clouds will be with us Thursday getting brighter on Friday.

Make some plans. We've got to stretch a nice weather coming as we head into next week. I know. He's been telling us to make plans all week. You better have made some plans. I know. Do it fast. All right.

Early voting is wrapping up. And more than 420,000 North Carolinians have already cast their ballots. What voters need to know is ahead. We have a preview of our Sunday special here in two minutes. Well, as we approach next week's primaries, we are breaking down the key races in our area. That's right. Your voice, your vote, and your streaming special includes insight from local party leaders and political experts. Here's a preview. So let's talk about the fourth congressional district.

It's right here in the triangle. It includes Durham County, Orange County, parts of Wake County and parts of Chatham counties as well. And this primary looks pretty interesting for that district. It is fascinating because this is really de facto general election. There's not much question. this Democratic primary should be able to cruise to a victory come November. I think that's why you're saying so many campaign ads for both the incumbent Valerie Fushi and her main challenger Nita Alam.

Representative Fushi has been in the U.S. House the past two terms. She has the backing of Governor Josh Stein. She has the backing of Roy Cooper. I would probably characterize her support as more traditional or mainstream in nature. Alam, the Durham County Commissioner has leaned into comparison to Democratic Socialist, New York City Mayor Zeramamandani. She has campaigned with Bernie Sanders and personal. person when he visited Durham.

She's really made an outreach to the probably more progressive base of the Democratic Party, trying to reach voters who have expressed frustration with the direction of the party, trying to connect with younger voters. We've seen a number of events on college campuses, and that brings up the age difference in this race. Alam is in her young 30s. Fushi will be turning 70 later this year. There's been a national discourse and whether or not the Democratic Party should be more proactive

or more aggressive and elevating younger and newer voices to that point. alarm very active on social media reaching out we're trying to connect with voters there don't discount however fushy's deep institutional ties within this district it's not just the incumpancy advantage of being the u.s house she's serving the state house she's serving the state senate and bring it back locally the orange county board of commissioners and chapel hill carborough school district we see so these politicians they start from somewhere and for fushy it was on the local level they came out in big numbers in orange county of her back in 2022 made a huge difference she's going to need to win that again by a wide margin if he wants to keep her seat.

And interestingly, this primary election for that district really mirrors what's happening inside the Democratic Party in many parts of the country. Yeah, I think it's definitely a litmus test, and you'll get a good sense, especially in a state like North Carolina, Purple State, where voters are really comfortable going. Do they want to have those more progressive voices

or they want to have somebody like Fushi, to her credit, has tried to lean into that progressive image a little bit, especially over the past year, I think probably understanding if a newer district, than it was in 2022. We'll get into that a bit later on in the show. But going to be fascinating to see where voters break. Let's show you some new polling from ABC News in the Washington Post and Ipsis. It found registered voters across the country are split in which party they're backing for U.S. House races.

When asked about supporting Democrats or Republicans in their district, 47% chose Democrats and 45% backed Republicans, which is within the margin of error there. So that's a look at the national landscape. We'll be watching on Tuesday night to see in our primary. how things shake out here and ultimately in the midterms in November. All right, Michael, Steve, thank you for that. You can watch more of Your Voice, Your Vote, streaming special on Sunday at 1130 a.m. And also at 10.30 p.m.

and you can see it wherever you stream, eyewitness news. High stakes negotiations between the United States and Iran have wrapped up for now without a deal, raising concerns about the imminent risk of war. Plus, new video emerges in the Nancy Guthrie case as the FBI moves. man post to Phoenix. And Capitol Hill scrutiny, former President Bill Clinton questioned under oath about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.