Crime

The FBI has released its Uniform Crime Reports for 2006. In short form: our population is growing across the region and so is violent crime. The report says robberies increased significantly in Wilmington between 2005 and 2006. Some Wilmington residents had mixed reactions to the numbers. Full story...

Police say they have found the person responsible for robbing the Waccamaw Bank in Shallotte. The hold-up happened just before four Tuesday afternoon at the bank on Main Street. Full story...

Columbus County high schools were just about back to normal today after rumors of gun violence circulated like wildfire yesterday. People in the Whiteville community say in no uncertain terms that gang activity is to blame. Whiteville City Schools Superintendent Randy Shaver admits there is gang presence on campus and is working on a plan to try and get rid of it. Full story...

We're learning more about the death of that East Carolina student who was visiting Wilmington this weekend. Autopsy results came back Monday. According to the coroner's office, 20-year-old Sam Flinn died of a brain hemorrhage from being hit in the chin. Full story...

Many students in Columbus County didn't show up for school Monday. Rumors of retaliation in the schools come after a murder Friday night following the East Columbus-Whiteville football game. Police say about 200 people were gathered in the parking lot of Sam's Pit Stop in Lake Waccamaw when a silver Ford Taurus drove up and someone in it opened fire. Full story...

Investigators say they may have found one of the suspects in a drive-by shooting Friday night in Columbus County that left one man dead and two more injured. They picked up the man on a separate charge Saturday night. Meanwhile the investigation continues into what happened. Full story...

Around 1:30 a.m. this morning, police found the body of 20-year-old Samuel Paul Flinn in front of a townhouse in the Carleton Place neighborhood near the UNCW campus. Full story...

A former West Brunswick High School student will spend at least five years behind bars for robbing his own aunt. Chasen Duke is one of four teens who has already pleaded guilty to the crime. Prosecutors say last December Duke and four friends broke into duke's aunt's house near Calabash. That's when three of them tied her up with duct tape and locked her in the bathroom. Full story...

New Hanover County deputies have uncovered a number of stores around the area selling counterfeit goods. Four stores have been busted so far. Authorities say they were selling everything from phony Nikes to boot leg CD's and DVD's. Full story...

A fugitive wanted in several states has been captured in our area. Nineteen-year-old Clifforinado Dye was arrested by the New Hanover County Sheriff's Department during a traffic stop Wednesday morning. Full story...

Exactly one year ago Carla Bussard's body was found behind an abandoned restaurant in Brunswick County. Wednesday her family is still looking for closure. Carla Bussard's mother and aunt drove up from Alabama Tuesday look for answers about what happened the night Carla was murdered. Full story...

The trial of a man accused of killing a Columbus County teen wrapped up Wednesday. Full story...

Former North Carolina state Rep. Michael Decker is headed to a federal prison in Bennettsville, South Carolina Tuesday. Full story...

John Dickinson pleaded guilty to four more DWI charges and two counts of identity fraud in a New Hanover County courtroom Monday morning. Full story...

Authorities are searching for six teenagers who escaped from a Pitt County jail. Full story...