Man shot after refusing to give another man a ride in Raleigh, police investigating

This was the article title given by WRAL on Posted 4:30 PM Jul 24, 2025  Updated 10:39 PM Jul 24, 2025

This shooting occurred within feet of two government buildings and a not-for-profit family center. One of those building is the South Wilmington Center for Men. I had just submitted a letter with to law enforcement and the administration of the center just weeks before and over the past two years highlighting unsafe conditions at the center and in that specific area.

I spoke with a high-ranking City of Raleigh Fire Official who uses the fire training center located there, and he told me he instructs/warns trainees that are attending training events at the center to approach the service road with caution because drug sales and illegal activities are prevalent there. “They will stop your vehicle and run into the road”, he said.

I visited to NC DMV office on New Bern Avenue and New Hope Road last month. I went there in fear because of the tent city located there. New Bern Avenue is the not the New Bern Avenue I experienced when I moved here in 2001. The homeless are busting at the seams. That includes the homeless that now infest the outlining cities in Wake County.

There is a homeless crisis. The man that was shoot was a disabled person that was denied access to the center and had been asking for specialized disabled services and was denied.

In Wake County, the county I am a resident in, we have a homeless emergency. I have been over the past five years in constant communication with the Wake County Housing Department even before it became a housing department of its own.

The men’s shelter does not operate and is not open 24/7. 6PM the men come in, absent special days like White flag, and they are out at 6AM. With so many homeless in Wake County, that center should be fully staffed and providing homeless services, Substance Abuse services, and mental health services, bilingual, to include the disabled, all day long. The beds should have be available in three shifts, as work shifts generally are. Case managers and administrative staff should be available all day long.

Here is the thing, by the way visit www.wakecountyfails.com for a copy of letters to the county and law enforcement, someone needs to declare a Wake County Homeless emergency as we are ending up looking like California and New York City were the homes are just everywhere with little to no services.

The lack of open and competitive employment is part of the problem. Our president, Donald Trump, openly states he will give jobs and does so to his friends. Unfortunately, here in Wake County, as the issue was raised in the past with the county manager and this board, the lack of open and competitive housing causes position to be filled by often times unqualified persons or remain unfilled to create opportunities for things like overtime pay and a fleecing of the county. Declare an emergency and insist on open and competitive hiring.