Raleigh SWAT shot by gangbanger ID'd in Garner murder | Chapel Hill illegal alien charged in "brutal" home invasion | Wanted MS-13 member caught by Lee deputies | Creedmoor mayor charged with DWI
No. 164 — Feb. 15-Feb. 21, 2026
A felon with known gang affiliations is accused of shooting two Raleigh police officers serving a warrant for the murder of a man found fatally shot in his vehicle in Garner earlier this month.
Opposition to immigration enforcement is apparently a major issue in Orange County politics, cited races for both county commissioner and sheriff, with candidates vying for who can be the most far-left in advocating for the protection of even violent criminals from ICE.
In a completely unrelated story, one of the illegal aliens charged with a horrific home invasion in Greenville in which the victim was sodomized and had his fingernails removed is a resident of Chapel Hill.
Lee County deputies investigating a vehicular crash discovered that one of the drivers was a member of MS-13 wanted for kidnapping, murder, etc. in El Salvador.
The mayor of Creedmoor has been charged with DWI after crossing the road and crashing into a tree, though it might not be such a surprise given his past four DWI convictions.
Raleigh SWAT officers shot while arresting gangbanger felon ID’d as killer of Garner father
No bond for suspect in Raleigh police shootout and deadly Garner shooting - WRAL
Garner murder suspect accused of shooting Raleigh SWAT officer appears in court - ABC11
Police officer injured in shootout with Garner murder suspect Thursday night - N&O
‘Judgement day is coming’: Joey Adams’ family and friends react to murder arrest - CBS17
Just days after renewing their request to the public for any information related to the seeming random murder of a man found fatally shot in his car, Garner Police identified the alleged killer as a felon with prior convictions and documented gang affiliations.
Solomon Owens, 26, was only brought into custody after a shootout Raleigh Police serving the warrant for his arrest on Thursday at a home in North Raleigh. Warrants allege that Owens shot at five Raleigh Police officers, striking one in the back of the head and another in a ballistic shield with rounds from a .300 Blackout AR-15, which appears to the the same firearm he is accused of stealing in Durham earlier in the day.
The SWAT officer struck in the head was wearing a ballistic helmet, and was released from the hospital after treatment; Owens also sustained minor injury in the arrest, with one officer returning fire, and appeared in court and in his mugshot with a bandage on his face.
On February 9, Garner Police had responded to reports of a crash near the intersection of Timber Dr. and Vandora Springs Rd. only to find that the driver Joseph “Joey” Adams suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, with Adams passing away from his injuries after transportation to the hospital.
Even with the suspect identified, the motive for the shooting of the father of five remains unclear, though one of Owens’ previous convictions may shed light.
According to reporting by the Warren Record, an arrest warrant for Owens described him admitting Warren County Sheriff’s Office that he was involved in two shootings in September 2018 as part of a gang initiation for an aspiring new member Haley Street Folk Nation Gang, of which he was a member.
The initiate was reportedly dropped by Owens after failing to shoot either of the intended targets he had interpersonal conflict with at their homes, which Owens brought him to, instead merely firing his weapon into the air.
Owens plead guilty to charges including conspiring to commit assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and with a sentence finding of “criminal gang activity” under N.C.G.S. 14-50.25 and appears to have been released from jail in January 2019 with a suspended sentence of 15.30 months, which would only have to be served if he violated his probation.
Despite the opportunity to turn his life around, records from the NC Department of Adult Corrections show he violated the probation ten months later by robbing a Durham Circle K with an accomplice in 2019, as well as possession of a firearm by a felon while out again in 2021 (also in Durham); he appears to have been released from prison most recently in April 2024.
Owens currently faces a charge of first degree murder for the killing of Adams; one count each of larceny of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon for allegedly stealing a firearm in Durham the day of his arrest; two counts of attempted first degree murder, three counts of assaulting an emergency worker with a deadly weapon with kill, and five counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer with a firearm.
Owens has been denied bail, noting his gang affiliations and violent offense history, and faces a maximum penalty of death.
Orange County candidates fight over who will oppose ICE the most
Orange County sheriff responds to election challenger’s immigration claims - N&O
Orange County 2026 primary: Here are the challenges the commissioner candidates see - N&O
Is opposing immigration enforcement a top priority for one of NC’s bluest counties? Both Orange County Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford and her primary challenger Maria Palmer cited ICE as when given the opportunity to name three challenges facing the county.
Bedford described the need to “alert” the population to immigration enforcement activity (as the county’s municipal, county, and law enforcement leaders did November), while Palmer emphasized the importance of politicians with broad left-wing “community support” to “speak up.”
The passion for protecting illegal immigrants from the enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws extends to violent criminals, as is evidenced by the county’s sheriff race, where 12-year incumbent Charles Blackwood is facing a primary challenge from further-left fellow Democrat David LaBarre.
In his campaign, LaBarre is challenging Blackwood on his office’s handling of Jorge Lopez-Duran, a Hillsborough resident accused of the meth-fueled “vicious” biting of the three Orange County deputies attempting to arrest him in March 2025 in response to reports by neighbors of him throwing bricks and stealing from a nearby residence. (The deputies suffered “severe” bites to the hands, with one also sustaining injury to the head and eye.)
Instead of being detained in Orange County, after his arrest, Lopez-Duran was transferred to Alamance County Jail under a policy designed to avoid defendants accused of assaulting law enforcement being detained in a facility manned by the same department as their alleged victims.
LaBarre’s criticism of Blackwood on the situation echoes the concerns raised at the time by Enlace Latino NC, an organization which has a history of organizing to protect violent criminals from immigration enforcement, regarding the fact that Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson has a history of working with ICE.
There appears to be no evidence besides Lopez-Duran’s ethnicity that he is an immigrant, let alone an illegal immigrant, with Blackwood pointing to his previous criminal record to suggest that he is a US citizen. (Lopez-Duran has at least one felony conviction from Oklahoma in 2012, which was cited in court documents for a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon in Orange County in 2024; Lopez-Duran plead guilty to this charge as well as two counts of communicating threats after his 2025 arrest.)
Blackwood defended his position on using his office to push back on immigration enforcement, while following applicable laws, describing a situation in August 2025 when ICE sought to arrest a resident of Carrboro; Blackwood told the News & Observer that his office checked the legitimacy of their paperwork and encouraged the federal agents not to conduct the operation at the immigrant’s home in a majority-Hispanic neighborhood.
The immigration officials complied with the request from the sheriff’s office, planning instead to arrest him when he drove to work, but failed to make the arrest when the subject instead stayed home. (Blackwood described a later attempt to arrest the same individual in Wake County involving a foot and vehicle chase, but did not provide identifying details or clarify whether the immigrant was eventually arrested.)
Blackwood also says he briefed El Centro Hispano on the situation, another local far-left Hispanic organization which opposes the enforcement of immigration laws. (El Centro Hispano mission statement: “We strive to dismantle systemic, institutional, and historical barriers, so they no longer determine the population’s socioeconomic, education, health opportunities and status.”)
Blackwood was also a signatory of the letter sent out by Orange County officials regarding Operation Charlotte’s Web, encouraging those “vulnerable to immigration enforcement operations” to “stay tuned to trusted news sources, know your rights, and have a plan,” and linking to “resources” like Siembra NC, another far-left Hispanic organization opposing immigration enforcement (you may note a theme).
Relevant Coverage:
Durham activists respond to ICE activity at courthouse (No. 134 — Jul. 20-Jul. 26, 2025)
Siembra NC: even criminals must stay (No. 151 — Nov. 16-Nov. 22, 2025)
Orange County Commissioners call for “reform” of DHS (No. 162 — Feb. 1-Feb. 7, 2026)
Chapel Hill resident among illegals charged in “brutal” Greenville home invasion
Two men now jailed in Cherry Oaks home invasion, assault, kidnapping - Daily Reflector
Chapel Hill man one of two charged in Pitt County home invasion; placed on ICE detainers - WRAL
2 illegal alien ‘perverts’ allegedly sodomized, beat, ripped fingernails off male victim in NC home invasion - Fox News
NORTH CAROLINA NIGHTMARE: ICE Lodges Arrest Detainer Against Criminal Illegal Aliens Charged in Beating, Sodomizing, and Ripping Fingernails off of a Victim in Brutal Home Invasion in Sanctuary North Carolina - Department of Homeland Security Press Release
Zaid Mayen-Esteban, 21, an illegal alien resident of Chapel Hill, is one of the suspects charged in an especially perverted and gruesome home invasion in Greenville last Wednesday.
According to court documents, local reporting, and a Department of Homeland Security press release, Mayen-Esteban and his accomplices broke into a Greenville home, then restrained the resident, assaulted him with an edged weapon, removed his fingernails, and sodomized him.
Mayen-Esteban and Jonathan David Garcia-Larios, 20, are both illegal immigrants from Mexico, with Garcia-Larios having been deported in 2024, while the immigration status of the third defendant John Carlo Calderon, 22, is unknown.
According to the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office, the attack was a “targeted crime and was not random,” and appears to be isolated.
All three defendants are being held without bond.
Lee County crash investigation turns up wanted MS-13 member
Crash reveals driver is MS-13 member accused of homicide, kidnapping, NC cops say - N&O
Deputies: Wanted El Salvadorian gang member arrested in Lee County - WRAL
Crash investigation in Lee County leads to arrest of MS-13 member wanted for serious crimes - ABC11
Accused killer from El Salvador caught after crash in Lee County, deputies say - CBS17
MS-13 gang member arrested in Lee County - Sanford Herald
While other counties may have a soft spot for foreigners who commit crime, Lee County Sheriff Brian Estes congratulated deputies for “go[ing] the extra mile” while responding to a crash on US-1 on Wednesday, leading to the identification of one of the involved drivers as an wanted member of MS-13, one of the most notorious international criminal organizations.
According to the press release from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Jonathon Josue Ayala-Melendez provided multiple variations of his name to the responding deputies and highway patrol troopers, none of which matched the birth date he provided, leading to the deputies to detain him and charge him as a “Juan Doe” with identity theft and resisting, delaying, and obstructing.
Deputies identified Ayala-Melendez by his fingerprints and got in touch with federal authorities, revealing that he a “transnational member of the criminal gang MS-13” who the feds had been “searching for...for some time” and was wanted for kidnapping, drug trafficking, and homicide/attempted homicide in El Salvador, according to LCSO.
Ayala-Melendez is under an immigration detainer by DHS, and is being held without bond.
Creedmoor mayor charged with DWI (again)
Creedmoor mayor charged with DWI in SUV crash - WRAL
Creedmoor mayor faces DWI charge in Monday crash - Ledger Times
Creedmoor Mayor Antwane Downey charged with DWI after crashing into ditch, tree - ABC11
Creedmoor Mayor Antwane Downey is facing a potential fifth DWI conviction after NC State Highway Patrol troopers say he crashed into a ditch and a tree after crossing the center line and travelling off the roadway on US-15 south of Oxford.
Downey was elected in 2025 with the endorsement of the Granville County Democratic Party, despite a criminal history including four prior convictions for DWI between 2003 and 2018.
In response to the situation, Creedmoor Mayor pro tem Archer Wilkins asked the community for prayer and a non-judgmental attitude while Granville County Sheriff Robert Fountain refuted accusations that he was involved in a cover-up, according to reporting by the Ledger Times. (Fountain says he was merely at a basketball game when he heard about the accident, drove over to alert elected officials at a county retreat, and personally responded to the scene of the crash.)
The charges Downey currently faces include driving while impaired and driving while licensed revoked for impaired driving
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