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News Roundup

WLOS reports that Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams announced yesterday that his office will not initiate criminal charges in the death of Jacob Biddix, who died at Mission Hospital after being transported there when he was found in distress in his cell at the Buncombe County Detention Center.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news.

Biddix.  Jacob Biddix’s death has been in the local news in Asheville since last summer, when WLOS began reporting on the procedures surrounding him being discovered in medical distress, transported to the hospital, and released from custody by a judge over the phone.

As the WLOS story in the lead explains, District Attorney Williams concluded after reviewing an SBI investigation case file that Buncombe County Detention Center staff checked on Biddix’s well-being in the time leading up to his medical emergency and there was no evidence that staff demonstrated carelessness, recklessness, or indifference to his safety.  Consequently, Williams said that there was no basis for filing criminal charges against any jail staff.

Charlotte Shootings.  WCNC reports that investigators in Charlotte believe that several recent fatal shootings in the city are connected to students at Hopewell and North Mecklenburg High Schools.  On Sunday, 16-year-old Jaylen Xavier Foster was shot and killed on Trinity Road and two other people were transported to the hospital with injuries.  A 14-year-old juvenile was charged with murder and other crimes related to Foster’s death.

The following Monday night into the early hours of Tuesday, a series of drive-by shootings occurred in the area of Kiev Drive, though no one was injured in those incidents.  The following evening, roughly 150 shots were fired into a home in the same neighborhood, tragically killing 3-year-old Asiah Figueroa.  No arrests have yet been made in connection with Figueroa’s death.

Person County Courthouse.  A joint news release from the Person County Sheriff’s Office and the Roxboro Police Department says that someone was shot by law enforcement officers inside the Person County Courthouse on Thursday after attacking people inside a courtroom.

WRAL reported that Christopher Thomas Vaughn had been found guilty of misdemeanor false imprisonment when he allegedly began yelling, threw a chair, and attacked a bailiff.  Two officers are said to have tried to subdue Vaughn and he was shot after trying to take one of their guns.  Both of the officers were injured, one with a broken arm, and the SBI is investigating the incident.

Naloxone.  The Roxboro Courier-Times reports that the Roxboro Police Department received 60 doses of the overdose reversal drug Naloxone thanks to grant funding through the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition.  The department now has enough supply of Naloxone nasal spray for every sworn officer to carry a dose of the drug.  A recent article from the Washington Post says that manufacturing issues at Pfizer are straining the national supply of Naloxone, causing shortages in certain areas.