Raleigh homicides nearly double

June shootings alone claim four

RALEIGH -- Four fatal shootings in Raleigh this month pushed the number of homicides in the city this year to 15 -- nearly twice as many as the city experienced over the same period last year.

Police are looking for suspects in three of the cases. No suspect has been named in the fourth. Police also are investigating two deaths over the weekend that could add to the total.

Police spokesman Jim Sughrue cautioned against drawing any conclusions.

"Obviously, the numbers of murders have fluctuated over the years," Sughrue said. "We also know that the first half of the year and the last half of the year can be very different."

But in previous years, the city was not facing a growing gang problem. State officials have blamed gang activity in part for a nearly 9 percent jump in homicides statewide last year.

A sluggish economy also may be behind a rise in robberies, which sometimes turn fatal. Five of the homicides in Raleigh this year stemmed from robberies, police reported.

By this time last year, the city had recorded eight homicides.

The four most recent victims were:

* Corinnie Broadway, a 21-year-old Shaw University sociology student who was shot to death in her apartment at 2124-205 Larson Drive on June 7. Broadway was two months pregnant at the time. Police have charged her boyfriend, Khaleel A Oyeneyin, 22, who remains at large.

* Ryan Nicole Bryant, 21, who was the victim of a driveby shooting June 10 at Blount and East Lee streets. Bryant, mother of a 6-year-old, was shot in the head, police said. The case remains unsolved.

* Damian Dunn, 14, who was shot in an apartment Friday night at Walnut Terrace south of downtown. Dunn was visiting the apartment while his mother underwent surgery at Wake-Med's Raleigh Campus to have her leg amputated. Police are seeking Fruikwan Dion Rashard Stewart, 18, in connection with the shooting.

* Miguel Najara Martinez, 36, who was shot early Saturday in the 500 block of Peyton Street. Police charged Erick Robles Mendoza, 28, who remains at large.

Not counted in the tally of homicides this year are two weekend deaths that remain under investigation.

Police are still working to unravel the circumstances in the deaths of a 26-year-old man who fell Sunday from the 510 Glenwood building on Glenwood Avenue downtown and of a 48-year-old woman whose body was found at her home in North Raleigh.

Police ask that anyone with information that might assist their investigations call the Raleigh Police Department's Detective Division at 890-3555 or CrimeStoppers at 226-2746.