After Raleigh teacher killed, Gov. Stein calls for NC to do better on mental health

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said that more should be done to address mental health in the wake of the death of Raleigh teacher Zoe Welsh, who was killed during a break-in at her home.

“She should be alive. She should be in school teaching today,” Stein, a Democrat, told reporters on Tuesday as he called for more mental health crisis legislation.

Lawyers for the man charged with killing Welsh on Saturday, Ryan Camacho, had sought a hearing on his mental capacity a month ago, according to court records, The News & Observer previously reported.

Camacho had a string of previous arrests and a long history of struggles with mental illness and homelessness, The N&O reported.

Zoe Welsh ‘a remarkable teacher,’ Stein says

This is the second high-profile killing in recent months to gain statewide attention and lead to calls for new laws. In August, Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on a Charlotte light-rail train. Zarutska’s death was the impetus for a crime bill written by Republicans, called “Iryna’s Law,” that Stein signed into law in October. It tightens laws around pre-trial release as well as requiring more mental health evaluations of people who have been arrested to determine whether they should be involuntarily hospitalized. A new General Assembly committee was formed to study the involuntary commitment process.

Welsh, who lived on Clay Street, was a science teacher at Ravenscroft School, a private school in Raleigh. She previously taught at Leesville Road High School, which is part of the Wake County Public School System. Friends mourning her have talked about how “genuinely nice” she was, The N&O previously reported.

Stein said it is “just absolutely heartbreaking news about Zoe Welsh, just heartbreaking. I have friends ... whose children were students of hers, and said she was a remarkable teacher. And she shouldn’t be dead. She should be alive. She should be in school teaching today. So it’s heartbreaking that she’s not.”

Stein called for the state to do a better job when it comes to mental health.

“We have to do a better job with this intersection — between folks out there who are paranoid, they’re delusional, who can pose risks. Obviously, not everybody with mental health challenges are a violent risk, but there are some who are, and we are not doing a good enough job treating those folks,” he told reporters on Tuesday after a Council of State meeting.

Stein urges more public safety funding in budget

Stein pointed to some initiatives like behavioral health urgent care centers the state is now setting up, he said, ”which will be very helpful, so that if somebody is having a mental health crisis, 24/7, they have a place to go that’s not the emergency department, because that’s not the right place. Jail is not the right place. We need to treat folks. So there’s more we can do in that regard.”

The governor also said that Iryna’s Law “is trying to get more people who are at risk, who pose mental health challenges, to have evaluations, so that we have mental health professionals evaluating what’s in the best interest of this person, to help them deal with whatever issues they’re facing.”

“That’s right for the person, but then it helps make all of us safer. There’s a lot more we can do,” he said.

Stein said he supports the involuntary commitment committee’s work and called on the General Assembly to pass a budget that invests more in public safety.

This story was originally published January 6, 2026 at 3:25 PM.

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan

The News & Observer

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan is the Capitol Bureau Chief for The News & Observer, leading coverage of the legislative and executive branches in North Carolina with a focus on the governor, General Assembly leadership and state budget. She has received the McClatchy President’s Award, N.C. Open Government Coalition Sunshine Award and several North Carolina Press Association awards, including for politics and investigative reporting.