FAA bans US flights to Haiti for 30 days after planes struck by gunfire

(RALEIGH, N.C.) — A North Carolina State student has been arrested for a string of apparently random shootings at cars on multiple highways in Raleigh.

Since Monday, police have received 12 reports of shots being fired at vehicles and buildings in the vicinity of Interstates 40 and 440, according to Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson. Among the incidents, eight vehicles were fired into, resulting in one person being injured, she said.

Andrew Thomas Graney, 23, has been charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and 11 counts of firing a weapon into an occupied vehicle or dwelling, police said. Graney is a senior at NC State, majoring in anthropology and has been enrolled since fall 2019, the school confirmed to Raleigh ABC station WTVD.

A second person was taken into custody alongside Graney, but was released without charges, police said.

“At this time, we do believe that the 12 incidents are related,” Patterson said at a press briefing Thursday. “I can also confirm that we have identified a person of interest, and this person has been detained. However, we will continue to pursue all leads.”

The investigation led authorities to a residence in Raleigh on Thursday, where they detained the person of interest, police said. A second person who was also in the residence at the time was additionally detained, police said.

Police have urged drivers in the Raleigh area to remain vigilant following reports of vehicles being fired into during the early morning hours on I-40.

In one incident, on Monday, a woman was shot in the leg, suffering a non-life-threatening injury, police said.

Patterson said it is unclear at this time if shots were being fired from a vehicle or on foot.

Police previously said they believe a handgun was used in the shootings.

The shootings remain under investigation. Patterson urged anyone with surveillance or dashcam footage to come forward.

A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible, she said.

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(INDIANAPOLIS) — A man has been arrested in the 1993 rape and murder of his 19-year-old neighbor in Indiana after he was linked to the case through genetic genealogy, authorities said.

On March 24, 1993, Carmen Van Huss’ father went to her Indianapolis apartment to check on her after she didn’t show up for work. He found his daughter dead on the floor, according to the probable cause affidavit.

She was naked and had multiple puncture wounds to her head, face and body, the document said.

“There were obvious signs of a struggle, including a knocked over table, clothing thrown on the floor, a large pooling of blood near the victim’s head, and blood spatter around the victim’s body,” the probable cause affidavit said.

A resident in the apartment directly below Van Huss told police that, in the early hours of March 23, he heard screams, crying, slamming, banging and “noises and voices of a male arguing that lasted approximately 30 minutes,” the probable cause affidavit said.

In the years that followed, police said they interviewed dozens of people and followed up on hundreds of leads. But the case went cold.

In 2013, the unknown suspect’s DNA was uploaded to CODIS — the nationwide law enforcement DNA database — but there wasn’t a match, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Then, in 2018, police said they submitted a DNA sample from the crime scene to Parabon NanoLabs to try to solve the case with forensic genetic genealogy — a new investigative tool that takes unknown DNA and identifies it by comparing it to family members who voluntarily submitted their DNA samples to a database.

In 2023, police said “various investigative methods and lead information from the genetic genealogy analysis” led to a suspect’s name: Dana Shepherd.

Police determined Shepherd was Van Huss’ neighbor in 1993. Their apartment buildings were connected internally by a shared common area, according to the probable cause affidavit.

In February, police were granted a warrant to obtain DNA from Shepherd, who was now living in Missouri and working at the University of Missouri, the probable cause affidavit said.

When police showed Shepherd the warrant, he “was visibly shaking,” the document said.

In June, testing determined that Shepherd’s DNA matched the DNA on Van Huss’ body and at the crime scene, police said.

Shepherd, 52, was arrested in Missouri last week on charges of murder, felony murder and rape, police said. He has not yet been extradited to Indiana, police said.

“There’s a lot of people that missed Carmen all these years,” Van Huss’ brother, Jimmy Van Huss Jr., said at a news conference Tuesday. “She had a lot of family, a lot of friends. She had cousins that loved her like sisters.”

“She wasn’t able to experience her college graduation or have a wedding or any of life’s events,” he said.

“She was taken from me when I was a freshman in high school. And I’m thankful that, finally, the man that did it is where he needs to be,” he said. “I do have hope that any similar case with DNA can get this same treatment with the genealogy and everything we have available today.”

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(RALEIGH, N.C.) — Abortions are now legal in North Dakota after the state Supreme Court ruled its near-total abortion ban was unconstitutionally vague.

The ruling came as part of a lawsuit filed by physicians that asked the court to strike down the ban in its entirety. A North Dakota South Central Judicial District Court judge granted that request Thursday.

At least 21 states currently have bans or restrictions in place on abortion care. Of those states, 13 states have ceased nearly all abortion services and four states prohibit abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant.

Abortion is currently illegal in South Dakota.

Plaintiffs argued the ban was unconstitutionally vague and made it impossible to interpret the language surrounding when abortions are allowed under medical exceptions, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit.

Physicians who violate the ban could be found guilty of a class C felony, punishable with up to five years of imprisonment, a $10,000 fine or both.

The court also found pregnant women have a fundamental right to choose an abortion before viability under the state constitution.

“The North Dakota Constitution guarantees each individual, including women, the fundamental right to make medical judgments affecting his or her bodily integrity, health, and autonomy, in consultation with a chosen health care provider free from government interference,” Judge Bruce Romanick wrote in the opinion.

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