MonroeNorthCarolina.com HOTELS • REAL ESTATE • JOBS

Monroe Calendar of Events

Tue
29 May La Cage Event: La CageVenue: Belk Theatre at Blumenthal Performing Arts CenterStart: 5/29/2012 7:30:00 PMCategory: THEATRE MUSICAL / …

---

Wed
30 May La Cage Event: La CageVenue: Belk Theatre at Blumenthal Performing Arts CenterStart: 5/30/2012 7:30:00 PMCategory: THEATRE MUSICAL / …

---

Thu
31 May La Cage Event: La CageVenue: Belk Theatre at Blumenthal Performing Arts CenterStart: 5/31/2012 7:30:00 PMCategory: THEATRE MUSICAL / …

---

See More Monroe Events

Monroe Area News

Police arrest one suspect in deadly Kannapolis shooting

Tonight, police have one of the suspects in the shooting of a Kannapolis teen in custody.

Police took Damarick Harper into custody on charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Officers are still searching for Darius Smotherson and a third, unnamed suspect.

As police continue to search for suspects, the family of Daniel Cooper, the teenager killed in the crime, spoke to Eyewitness News.

"The times we had with him, we're going to cherish," said Paul Ulm, Cooper's step-father.

Police say Cooper was in a car with a friend on Snow Street last Monday, when they were approached by three men who were apparently trying to rob them. At some point, a shot was fired and it hit Cooper in the neck.

"It happened when we were away and the police were here waiting for us," said Ulm. "It was just very surreal."

Cooper was just four days shy of his 18th birthday and three weeks away from graduation at A.L. Brown High School.

His friends there have painted a rock in his honor and written messages, which his parents have seen.

"He had a positive impact on a lot of his friends," Ulm said. "They would write things like 'just seeing you today and your smile, lifted me up.' "

Ulm said he primarily spoke on camera because he hoped someone would hear the story and reach out to Kannapolis Police with information that might lead to an arrest.

_{Mon, 28 May 2012 22:25:48 -0400}

Cab driver carjacked at knifepoint in broad daylight, police say

Charlotte police are looking for a man and woman who carjacked a taxi at knifepoint Monday afternoon.

        The Prestige Taxi driver, Thephilus Hoggard, told Channel 9 he was on his way home just before noon when he picked the two up near the intersection of North Tryon Street and Sugarcreek Road.  He said he drove them about 14 miles when they had him turn down a deserted road off of South Boulevard. 

"I felt a knife behind my neck," Hoggard said.

        Hoggard knew when they asked for his money he had no choice. 

"He told me if I fight he would kill me." 

The thieves left in the taxi and left Hoggard on that deserted road.  Less than an hour later, the taxi was located in a parking lot near the intersection of Beattes Ford Road and LaSalle Street.  It was found quickly thanks to a GPS system that Prestige Taxi had installed in it just four days ago. 
       
James Williams, from XPress Automotive Services, showed an Eyewitness News crew how he easily located the taxi on his phone as soon as he found out what happened. 

"This vehicle was lost an hour ago and was able to be found.  It could have taken days and days for it to be found," Williams said.
       
As police search for the robbers, Hoggard is just grateful he wasn't hurt and that his taxi was found. 

"I thank God that they used GPS to track my car,"  Hoggard said.
       
Several Charlotte taxi companies are now installing GPS systems in their taxis.  Prestige Taxi, which owns the one stolen on Monday, said it is also planning on installing cameras in each of its cabs.

_{Mon, 28 May 2012 18:01:37 -0400}

Thousands of soldiers buried in unmarked graves in Salisbury cemetery

Thousands of soldiers are buried in unmarked graves in a Salisbury cemetery.

One man is making it his mission to give them the recognition they earned in war.

For the past eight years, Mark Hughes said he has been asking the government to label the gravesites of more than 3,500 Union soldiers who died while in a Confederate prison in Salisbury.

Their bodies were thrown in mass trenches and Hughes said many of their families never learned how they died or where they were buried.

“What I would like to see are bronze tables. Maybe four by eight with the name, rank and the unit of every soldier,” Hughes said.

But in the most recent letter from the Department of Veteran Affairs, Hughes said they turned down his request.

The letter said in part, “It would not be historically appropriate to affix bronze plaques.” The letter also said prison records listing the names of each soldier were “incomplete and in disarray.”

Hughes argues that the records are accurate.  He said a VA officials told him there was another reason why they wouldn’t install the markers.

“She said, ‘You know that the markers are not going to happen. That would be too much work,’” Hughes said.

Hughes and others say no matter how long it takes, it’s the right thing to do.

“For family members to come and see a name and put that with their family member rather than to just come and see unknown,” said Toni Hill.

Channel 9 reached out to the Department of Veteran Affairs, but has not heard back yet.

_{Mon, 28 May 2012 17:42:18 -0400}

News Source: MedleyStory More Local News Stories