Raleigh

Community-focused posts

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Reggie Gemeille charged again with murder

Wedjunald “Reggie” Gemeille


Reggie Gemeille was charged again yesterday with first-degree murder, this time in Sunday’s death of Angel D. Irby, 29. From Raleigh Police’s Facebook page:

On Sunday, at approximately 10:15 a.m., Raleigh Police Department officers conducted a check-on-welfare at 201-20 Loft Lane. Upon arrival, the officers located a deceased female, Angel D. Irby, 29. Irby, who resided at the call address, was located inside the apartment.

A suspect, Wedjunald Gemeille (DOB 8/28/91), is in custody and has been charged with murder in connection with the death of Irby. Gemeille has been transported to the Wake County Jail.

The suspect and victim were known to one another, and the crime was not a random act.

The investigation is continuing.

Here’s Gemeille’s inmate record at Wake County jail.
 Curiously, I can’t find any record of him being tried in the 2010 death. It would be nice to know how he once again slipped through the cracks, this time in the hands of the criminal justice system.

Looks like Gemeille was arrested on Nov 24th, 2012 [PDF] for assault inflicting serious injury (m), assault on a female, disorderly conduct, and reckless driving – wanton disregard. The address of the altercation was also 201 Loft Ln. I wonder if Irby was the victim in that case, too.

Bike lanes or parking places?

The family and I had a very active day yesterday, taking advantage of the balmy (if cloudy) 75 degree weather. First I met my brother for a run around Shelley Lake. After that, the family and I did some biking along the Crabtree Creek Greenway. After a quick lunch, we took some of the kids’ friends with us to Buffalo Road Aquatic Center for a swim. I call it a triathlon, though Kelly insists that it’s not.

There is a sewer line replacement project taking place along the greenway and, as a result, we had to detour onto Anderson Drive to get around the construction. Upon reaching Anderson Drive, I was dismayed to see there were no sidewalks but a bike lane instead. That would’ve been fine but there were a number of cars parked along the street, sending my family and me out into traffic to get around them.
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Highlights of 2012: Neighborhood happenings

It was a year full of interesting happenings around the neighborhood.

The year started off with a bang (fortunately not literally) when I helped catch a burglar as he was breaking into a neighbor’s car. Unlike other suspects I’d seen who were up to no good, I got no subpoena for this incident because a police officer witnessed it, too. If only an officer was always just around the corner whenever a crime occurred it would make things so much easier.

A few months later I was surprised to see a number of police cars entering my neighborhood. My neighbors became the victim of a mid-day breakin, with the thieves having enough time to neatly stack their booty behind the home before the cops rolled up. Fortunately for everyone but the hapless crooks, the cops blocked the getaway car in the driveway, which provided not only a wealth of fingerprints but a curious parade of passersby, all unusually interested in a crime that hadn’t been publicized. The perps were caught a few weeks later, their getaway car having belonged to someone they knew.
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Home invasion shocks neighborhood

Monday’s home invasion and shooting in Oakwood has left Raleigh’s downtown neighborhoods in shock. It has also shocked me as well. This took things to a new level and as good as the Raleigh Police Department is, there was little they could’ve done to stop it. As the saying goes, shit just got real.

Fortunately, the perps picked the wrong neighborhood to mess with. Oakwood is as close-knit as neighborhoods come, and residents spotted the suspects immediately. Brothers Shabar Marshall and Jahaad Marshall were arrested shortly afterward.

I learned this morning that the rumored neighborhood home invasion did, in fact, occur. A neighbor shared the details today and this previous crime was just as scary as the one this week. The evening of November 19th, a burglar broke into a home on Wake Forest Road in Mordecai and held the daughter at gunpoint there for 10 minutes while he looked for cash. The suspect escaped before anyone was hurt but it shook the family up so much that they moved away. No mention of this incident was made in the media, nor did RPD make any announcements. If it weren’t for the chat I had with the man at the local restaurant over the holidays I wouldn’t have known about it at all.

The good news is that the victim of the previous home invasion believes that Shabar Marshall was the perpetrator of the previous crime. He’s now behind bars, but for many neighbors that’s not good enough. This serious escalation deserves an escalated response from the community. The question is, what do we do?

Google Fiber shout out in the N&O

N&O Editor John Drescher gave a little shout out to Google Fiber today in his column praising mayors. Says Drescher:

“In Kansas City, Sly James has attracted technology startups by working with Google to provide Internet service 100 times faster than typical broadband.”

I’m hopeful the Triangle area will one day be successful in luring Google’s service here. Our broadband pipes should be collectively owned like our streets and other infrastructure.

Couple tied up during Raleigh home invasion

WRAL says a home invasion took place in the city early this morning:

Two Raleigh homeowners were tied up during a home invasion early Sunday, police said.

Two armed men broke into the house at 3105 Sherry Drive around 4 a.m., woke up the couple who live there and demanded money from them, police said. The men tied up the couple and left after about 30 minutes, taking an unknown amount of money and a few other items.

This caught my eye as a man we met at a neighborhood restaurant last week told us that a home invasion had taken place in Mordecai last month. He said it wasn’t well-publicized. I’m trying to track down the police report on the incident in case there’s anything to it.

via Couple tied up during Raleigh home invasion :: WRAL.com.

Can you edit better than a third grader?

I don’t know what it is with the N&O’s editing, or lack thereof. It seems particularly bad for the sports section. It may due to my bias for the N.C. State Wolfpack but it seems there’s a general lack of knowledge for State coverage. I don’t know because I usually only skim the Duke or UNC stories.

N.C. State’s basketball team beat Western Michigan yesterday in a game in Raleigh. Sports writer J.P. Giglio wrote a good story on the game, but because Giglio referenced last week’s game against St. Bonaventure, whomever supposedly edits the sports page listed St. Bonaveuture as yesterday’s opponent on the front of the sports page.

Giglio wrote:

Just like the previous game against St. Bonaventure, Richard Howell fouled out Saturday against Western Michigan.

… and this is what appeared on the front of the sports page:

The Pack played Western Michigan, not St. Bonaventure.


Fewer than two weeks ago, the sports page flubbed the name of N.C. State’s basketball coach in a photo caption on the front of the sports page, calling him Mike Gottfried instead of Mark Gottfried. This error didn’t get by my eagle-eyed 8-year-old son, Travis, so why in the world did it get by the paper’s editors?

The N&O has a chance to offer the best coverage of local sports, and generally the paper does. For many subscribers, sports coverage is very important. That’s why I’m mystified that the N&O has let its sports editing get so bad. It may be enough to drive people away from the newspaper.

Governor, Mayor sign Dix Park lease

Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane, Governor Perdue, and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall sign the lease creating Dix Park

I got to watch today as Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane, Governor Perdue, and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall signed the least that created Dix Park this afternoon. It was a fantastic occasion. I look forward to helping shape this wonderful new park.

Here’s Laura Leslie of WRAL’s story on the signing:

In one of her final acts in office, outgoing Gov. Beverly Perdue formally signed an agreement Friday to lease the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus to the City of Raleigh, which plans to turn it into a “destination park.”

The Raleigh City Council and the Council of State, a panel of 10 statewide elected officials, approved the agreement earlier this month, and Friday afternoon’s signing finalized the deal on the 325-acre site that is just south of downtown.

The shifting sands of food deserts

There was much hand-wringing among Southeast Raleigh residents when Kroger recently announced the imminent closing of two of its grocery stores in the area, citing disappointing sales. What many folks don’t know is that one of the stores that many now turn to for their groceries was also on the verge of closing just a few years ago.

The shopping center that the Raleigh Boulevard Food Lion occupies was once plagued with crime. Residents were getting mugged in the parking lot, sketchy individuals were hanging out, stores were struggling, and there was zero investment in the shopping center from its owner. Inside the grocery store, more food was walking out than money was going in. Something had to be done.
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