CRIME & SAFETY

Two incidents occurred in Southport, North Carolina this week. The first incident involved a fatal crash on November 18th, where a pedestrian was pinned under a vehicle. The Southport Police Department determined it to be an accidental incident. The second incident was a three-vehicle crash on November 29th, near Dosher Memorial Hospital. The scene was cleared by the police just before 8 p.m.

A car crashed into the Harris Teeter in Leland on Friday afternoon, according to the Leland Police Department. Per the LPD, the call came in at around 4 p.m. The driver had a medical issue and hit the gas, crashing the car into the building. The damage to the building wasn’t severe enough for the store to be forced to close.

WILMINGTON (WWAY) — A man is facing multiple charges after striking and injuring a pedestrian with his vehicle in Wilmington. It happened Saturday around 10:30 p.m. in the 2800 block of Worth Drive. Officers responded to a vehicle vs. pedestrian incident and arrived to find a man who had been struck by a vehicle. The victim was transported to Novant Health NHRMC where he is currently in stable condition.

• A pedestrian was killed in a hit and run incident in Brunswick County. • The pedestrian was crossing the road to assist a vehicle in a ditch. • The victim has been identified as an 80-year-old man from Shallotte.

CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. (WECT) - Emergency crews are still at the scene of a single-car crash on Service Rd. near the Snow’s Cut Bridge in Carolina Beach. According to a trooper with State Highway Patrol, a woman was traveling north of Carolina Beach Rd. when she swerved right and hit a tree, causing the car to overturn multiple times.

LELAND, N.C. (WECT) - Detectives with the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Unit are asking for the public’s help in identifying a suspect in a recent break-in. The sheriff’s office released video of the suspect in a breaking-and-entering incident that occurred at a home in the N. Fork Way area Tuesday, Nov. 28, at about 11:30 a.m.

SHALLOTTE, N.C. (WECT) - Loved ones of Joseph Willis Butler, who was killed in a hit and run on Wednesday night, are speaking up and remembering his life. Butler was 80 years old and had lived in Brunswick County for his entire life. Family members say that he was a proud member of the community.

Welcome back to the Cape Fear Rundown. Everyone has been busy this week covering their own long term stories, but Ben has been hard at work himself. He joins us this week to give us some insight.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The murder trial for a man charged in connection to the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old in New Hanover County in 2020 is scheduled to begin Monday, Dec. 4. Laron Lee Carter is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Gavin Dozier, who was found...

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A gun was confiscated from a student at Myrtle Grove Middle School on Tuesday. A spokesman with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office says an 11-year-old boy brought a BB gun to Myrtle Grove Middle School on Tuesday morning. The child’s parents...

NAVASSA, NC (WWAY) — The Navassa Police Department swore in their new police chief on December 1st, 2023, and he’s no stranger to the Cape Fear area. Dale Thomas has been an officer for more than 16 years. He spent the first nine years of his career in...

WHQR's Ben Schachtman sat down with The Assembly's Johanna Still to talk about our joint newsletter, The Dive. This week, we take a look at law enforcement behaving badly in Bladen, Brunswick, and Columbus counties — plus the fallout from some bad legal advice from the Sheriff in New Hanover County.

This article contains AI-assisted content. Wilmington, North Carolina - Michael Eugene Williams, 28, of Wilmington, was sentenced to 85 months in federal prison after his guilty plea for illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Williams was arrested during a traffic stop, where he attempted to reach for a gun while resisting arrest. He has six prior state felony convictions, which include charges of burglary, selling heroin, trafficking heroin by possession and manufacturing, and conspiracy to traffic opium or heroin.

A fire Monday destroyed a warehouse building at a farm and garden supply store in Leland. Leland Fire/Rescue crews responded to Hollybucks on Lanvale Road at 1:30 Monday afternoon. When crews arrived, they saw heavy fire coming from the back warehouse, according to a news release. The fire was under control about 40 minutes...

Wilmington police responded to a shooting Tuesday morning that left one person with multiple gunshot wounds. According to a news release from the Wilmington Police Department, officers went to the 2100 block of Jefferson Street at 1:40 a.m. Tuesday where they found a shooting victim. The person was transported to the hospital.

New Hanover County is taking additional measures to address a rising number of DWI cases. In October, a backlog court was established dedicated to handling over 75 DWI (driving while impaired) cases that had been awaiting trial for more than a year. ...

WILMINGTON, D.E. - Police are joining family members in the search for a missing man who was last seen leaving a relative’s birthday party Saturday in Wilmington. Bobby Pipkin, 42 was last seen leaving a family member’s 70th birthday party on South Van Buren and Chestnut Streets at approximately 1 A.M. on Saturday, November 25.

Tyrone Thompson was at his home on Godwin Trail Thanksgiving night when he heard hundreds of gunshots.

WILMINGTON (WWAY) — The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a body was found in a Wilmington creek on Saturday. The body of a woman was found floating in Smith Creek near the ILM airport just after 1 p.m. On Monday, the Sheriff’s Office identified the...

There’s a less-than-one-in-a-million chance of being struck by lightning in any given year. Brunswick County District Attorney Jon David used that analogy five years ago, after the arrest of the Southport police chief Gary Smith and his top lieutenant for wage theft. “Lightning has struck three times here in...