Hunter Biden’s gun case terminated following presidential pardon

(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.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW ORLEANS,  La) — New Orleans city leaders were warned in a 2019 confidential physical security assessment that tourist-packed Bourbon Street was vulnerable to a vehicle-ramming attack because some of the existing blockade mechanisms were inoperable.

The warning proved painfully real five years later on New Year’s Day when a Texas man, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, drove through pedestrians on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others in a truck-ramming and gunfire attack. Jabbar, who had proclaiming his support for ISIS, was shot and killed by New Orleans police at the scene

New Orleans first installed metal security barriers on Bourbon Street in 2017 following the 2016 truck terror attack on Bastille Day in Nice, France. That same year, a report prepared by the infrastructure consulting firm AECOM noted that Bourbon Street “is often densely packed with pedestrians,” presenting “a risk and target for terrorism.”

Two years later, a security assessment prepared for the French Quarter Management District by the security firm Interfor International faulted the bollards that had been installed.

“Some of the bollards were inoperable for a number of reasons,” Don Aviv, president of Interfor International, said. “Some were broken and some were kept down for ease of use.”

The existence of the 2019 assessment was first reported by The New York Times.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city had been in the process of renovating the malfunctioning bollards before hosting the Super Bowl in February.

“Bollards were not up because they are near completion, with the expectation of being completed by Super Bowl,” Cantrell said. “Because the City of New Orleans is hosting Super Bowl this year, it gave the City of New Orleans an opportunity to go further and deeper with infrastructure improvements.”

New Orleans police parked a cruiser to block Bourbon Street on New Year’s Eve.

“We did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said.

Video of the attack shows the suspect’s truck moving along Canal Street and making a right turn, moving around the police cruiser by driving onto the sidewalk. Aviv suggested it should not be so simple.

“For the type of environment the French Quarter is, there should be a systemic process to control traffic and to protect pedestrians,” Aviv said.

The French Quarter Management District told ABC News in a statement that it’s always focused on public safety.

“In 2019, the Board commissioned a study on Safety and Security in the French Quarter. This study was shared with our partners in the City of New Orleans, and its recommendations were made public,” the statement said. “The strength of our ongoing partnership with the City and NOPD allows open communications of resident and business concerns and the results of any studies or reports completed.”

ABC News’ Jared Kofsky contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.