News

Michael David, Jr.

From Roanoke City Police: On January 17, 2017 at 6:15 p.m., Roanoke Police responded to a home in the 2300 block of Staunton Avenue NW for a person who had been shot. The victim was identified as Michael Lee Nance, age 28, of Roanoke. Nance sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The first officer on scene began rendering first aid to Nance until paramedics arrived. Nance was speaking with officers at the scene. Roanoke Fire EMS transported Nance to Carilion Roanoke Memorial where he died at 7:37 p.m. Officers determined the shooting took place in the 1800 block of Staunton Avenue. Evidence recovered indicates that Nance had been in his vehicle when he was shot. Drug activity was involved in the shooting. After further investigation, officers arrested Michael Antonio David Jr., age 19, at his residence in the 4000 block of Wyoming Avenue NW at 7:45 a.m. At this point David Jr. has been charged with second degree murder. He was taken to the Roanoke City Jail. Detectives have also obtained a second degree murder warrant for Markeith O’Shea Bryson Jr., age 19, of Roanoke. He has not been served with the warrant at this time. Anyone with information on his immediate whereabouts should call 911. Anyone with information that may help find him please call 540-344-8500. Callers can remain anonymous.

For two years a website has helped members of the Roanoke Valley’s Hispanic community feel more connected to others in the area. Now that resource is making a transition as WFIR’s Gene Marrano reports:

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia is planning to execute a man convicted of killing a well-known family of four in their Richmond home on New Year’s Day 2006.Thirty-nine-year-old Ricky Gray is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 9 p.m. tonight.Gray’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put his execution on hold so he can pursue his challenge to the state’s lethal injection plan.Gray was convicted of killing of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their daughters, Stella and Ruby. The family was found in the basement of their burning home, bound, beaten and stabbed, with their throats cut.Gray’s attorneys say the scheduled execution would be the first time a state uses compounded midazolam or compounded potassium chloride in a lethal injection.

Natalie Keepers

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) – A judge is considering a request to move the upcoming trial of a former Virginia Tech student charged in the slaying of a 13-year-old girl.News media outlets report that Judge Robert Turk has taken under consideration the request from 19-year-old Natalie Keepers.Keepers is charged with being an accessory to kidnapping and murder and with helping hide the body of seventh-grader Nicole Lovell last year. Nineteen-year-old David Eisenhauer is charged with first-degree murder, abduction and hiding Lovell’s body. Their trials are scheduled for March.The judge also ruled that Keepers can wear civilian clothes during the trial.

The Roanoke Regional Partnership has launched its newest 5-year plan to bring economic development to the next level – a $3.3 million public-private campaign called “Accelerate 2022.” Beth Doughty is the Partnership’s executive director. She says first and foremost is a focus on retaining and attracting talented people to the region. 8 localities and more than 200 businesses are supporting “Accelerate 2022” – which has also set goals for new jobs and investment levels:

 

Bedford FD photo

Bedford County’s fire marshal says it is too early to determine what started this morning’s fire that killed a four-year-old girl, but they know the fatal blaze began in the back of the house near Bedford Middle School. There were eight people in the home — two adults and six children ranging from five months to 17 years old. Firefighters rescued four of them, but the young victim died on the way to the hospital. Fire officials say one adult male was airlifted to Wake Forest Medical Center.

(Continue reading for the Town of Bedford news release.)

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