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Tag: goldsboro

  • Goldsboro’s drone tech speeds up snow response, boosts safety during severe weather

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    The City of Goldsboro is using a drone to respond to severe weather more quickly by assessing where to send crews after snow falls.  

    Goldsboro Fire Chief Ron Stempien said the city invested in drone technology last year, and it’s already proving useful during winter weather.

    “What that typically takes is somebody getting on the road, driving, calling back, and registering where the roads are bad. I can launch this from here, and I can get about a quarter mile that I can go up and down the streets,” he said. 

    The drone allows the fire department to quickly survey road conditions and determine where plows are needed most. According to Stempien, that helps reduce response time while also saving manpower and resources.

    And snow removal isn’t the drone’s only job. The fire department also uses it to help locate missing people, assess structural damage after fires and assist in other emergency situations.

    “It allows us to get a head start, so to speak, and get out in front of something and try to get it working before, without having that delay,” he said. 

    While Goldsboro stands out for using drones in this way during winter weather, it’s not alone. Other cities in the region also rely on drones during severe conditions.

    In Raleigh, drones are used to capture footage before and after storms. The city also uses them for park inspections, photography, and within the fire department.

    Local law enforcement agencies, including Wendell police, have also used drones to to help locate missing or endangered people, locate criminal suspects, investigate traffic crashes and crime scene reconstruction, and oversee special operations.

    Still, Goldsboro’s approach is helping pave the way, using technology to get people moving again as quickly as possible after severe weather.

    Right now, the department has one drone, but Stempien said he hopes to expand the program in the future. 

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  • La Grange man in critical condition after shooting in Goldsboro

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    A 28-year-old La Grange man is in critical on Monday night
    after Goldsboro police said he was shot.

    Goldsboro police said the shooting happened around 2:46 p.m.
    on East New Hope Road near Hines Drive.

    Emergency Medical Services took the man to UNC Health Wayne,
    where he was airlifted to ECU Health in Greenville.

    The man is listed in critical condition, according to the
    police.

    Goldsboro police did not list any information about others involved
    in the shooting.

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  • Former inmate reflects after buying old Wayne County prison to repurpose for reentry

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    In a historic purchase, the former Wayne Correctional Center in Goldsboro, which shut down in 2013, was bought by a nonprofit founded by a formerly incarcerated man, WITN reports.

    Kerwin Pittman, the founder and executive director of the Recidivism Reduction Education Program Services (RREPS), once walked the halls of prison as an inmate.

    Now, he owns his own prison and is planning on turning it into a place of freedom, rather than confinement.

    “For me to be a beacon of light in somebody’s life when they’re in a dark place, I know how it feels,” Pittman said. “I remember when I was in that dark place of having to transition and not knowing what the possibility of my life could become, so to be able to guide somebody into that next step is extremely important, and I’m grateful to be able to do it.”

    Pittman spent 11 and a half years inside the system of a state correctional facility and is now planning to use that experience to help others.

    Through his nonprofit, RREPS, he purchased the former Wayne Correctional Center and is working to transform it into a reentry housing and workforce campus: a place people can call home while they transition back into society.

    “I love to give people the opportunity to have a better life,” Pittman said.

    He said this is the first time a formerly incarcerated person in the U.S. has purchased a prison and led a nonprofit to repurpose it.

    Retired correctional officer Mario Davis, who met Pittman while he was still incarcerated and worked in the system for 20 years, says the new campus is game-changing for those looking for a fresh start.

    “Normally, people will go to a halfway house or a reentry house, and those individuals will have to go outside for services, but what he’s done here is bringing formerly incarcerated people in, so they don’t have to go out to get services,” Davis said.

    The campus will provide transitional residency, workforce development and job placement, educational opportunities, and multiple other programs for justice-impacted individuals.

    Pittman says the goal is to open the new campus in the next two years.

    RREPS purchased the prison for just under $1 million, made possible through donations, grants, and philanthropic support.

    More information on the nonprofit can be found here.

    Copyright 2026 WITN. All rights reserved.

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  • Former inmate buys Wayne County Correctional Center, plans reentry and workforce campus

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    Kerwin Pittman, a social justice activist, has purchased the former Wayne County Correctional Center in Goldsboro, making him the first formerly incarcerated person in U.S. history to purchase a prison.

    Pittman served 11½ years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder and was incarcerated from 2007-2018.

    After he was released, he founded and became the executive director of the Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services Inc, (RREPS).

    Pittman plans to transform the property into a reentry and workforce campus for people who have just been released from jail or prison. It will be called Recidivism Reduction Campus.

    The campus will include transitional housing, mental health support, workforce training, necessary life skills and more.

    “This effort is not about continuing incarceration,” Pittman said. “It is a blueprint for transformation, led by those who have lived it. It represents a powerful redefinition of justice in America, from incarceration to ownership, from punishment to purpose.”

    The Wayne Correctional Center received its first inmates in 1979 and closed in 2013. It has been vacant ever since.

    According to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, the purchase price was $275,000 and the sale was approved at the November 2025 Council of State meeting.

    The campus is mostly in a designated flood plain near the Neuse River. This area has had a history of flooding during major hurricanes. The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction said that is why the purchase price was so low.

    A timeline for construction for the campus has not been given yet. 

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  • Community holds Christmas Eve vigil for 13-year-old shot and killed in Goldsboro

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    Over one hundred residents of Goldsboro gathered on Christmas Eve to remember a 13-year-old who was shot and killed on Sunday.

    Police said officers were called to Alpha Court around 4:40 p.m. for reports of a shooting. When officers arrived, police said they found Jaleeyah Tune had been shot. She was pronounced dead on the scene. 

    For some family members, they say her absence feels like a void. 

    “They took a beautiful life. For no reason. For no reason,” said Cresha Hobbs, Tune’s Grandmother. 

    Tune’s death has prompted a wave of support from all corners of the community, with teachers, classmates and even local law enforcement joining the vigil to pay their respects and leave tokens of remembrance.

    Family members are now calling for action and say they do not want what happened to Tune to happen to another family in Goldsboro. 

    “We’re not gonna stop until we have a law about children violence [and] gun violence in Goldsboro. It’s gonna be Jaleeyah’s law and I’m not gonna stop until that happens,” Hobbs said.

    According to her mother, Tune was born premature and came home from the hospital on Christmas Eve 13 years ago. Now this holiday has a different meaning for them.

    While many families are celebrating Christmas, Tune’s family is planning a funeral. They have started a GoFundMe to help with expenses.

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  • Goldsboro mother said daughter shot dead four days before Christmas

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    A Goldsboro mother told WRAL News her 13-year-old daughter was shot and killed on Sunday.

    Officers were called around 4:40 p.m. to Patetown Road for what people on the scene told WRAL News was a deadly shooting.

    “She was lovely. She was in middle school. She was a good kid. She didn’t deserve this,” said Whitney Tune, the girl’s mother.

    First responders can be heard over Broadcastify Emergency Responder Traffic saying the victim was not conscious and not breathing.

    Police have not confirmed the victim’s age or identity.

    Tune said the loss is devastating and worries about what this means for other families in the area.

    “I’m heartbroken,” Tune continued. “My daughter’s gone. Christmas around the corner. She didn’t deserve this. She’s a little girl. She’s not coming home. It doesn’t matter where she lived, where she’d be; it shouldn’t happen. And there’s other little kids out here that are in danger as well, with the violence.”

    Goldsboro police told WRAL News the investigation is still ongoing.

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  • Goldsboro man arrested for alleged murder of 5-year-old boy, held without bond

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    Goldsboro police have arrested a man accused of killing a 5-year-old boy.

    Police said 30-year-old Kenneth Ray Robinson Jr. was arrested on Monday and faces possible murder charges.

    This comes as officers were called to UNC Health Wayne for reports of possible child abuse on Friday, Oct. 16. Police said the boy was transferred to ECU Health in Greenville for treatment and later died from his injuries.

    Police obtained a warrant for Robinson on Friday, Oct. 24.

    Officers said he is being held in Wayne County Jail without bond.

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  • Man killed in Goldsboro hit-and-run

    Man killed in Goldsboro hit-and-run

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    GOLDSBORO, N.C. (WTVD) — One person is dead Sunday after a hit-and-run crash in Goldsboro.

    According to the Goldsboro Police Department, officers responded to calls about a welfare check in the 3100 block of Central Heights Road at 10:30 a.m. When officers arrived they found Mauricio Gomes, 45, near the roadway from an apparent traffic crash.

    Gomes was pronounced dead at the scene.

    Anyone with information about this crime, or any other crime in the Wayne County area is asked to call or text Crime Stoppers at 919-735-2255 or submit a TIP at p3tips.com.

    ALSO SEE:Raleigh police searching for armed man near Green Road, police said

    Copyright © 2024 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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