South Carolina

Greenville

SC Army National Guardsmen home for the holidays

More than 800 soldiers from South Carolina are returning home for Christmas after a year-long deployment to Kuwait.

The Greenville News reported on Sunday that the S.C. Army National Guard’s 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry, began returning Saturday. All of the soldiers are being flown in into Columbia and are then bused to their respective armories for homecoming ceremonies with their families.

The 800-member unit mobilized in January after training at Camp Shelby, Miss., and then deployed to Kuwait in April. During their time overseas, the guardsmen provided administration, logistical, legal, training, security, communications, medical and religious support for three military camps in northern Kuwait.

The South Carolina National Guard includes more than 11,000 soldiers and airmen who deploy worldwide as needed.

Gaffney

SC man dies after 2 car collision

South Carolina authorities are investigating the death of a Gaffney man killed in a head-on, two-vehicle crash.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler says Cleaters Hardin died Saturday about 1 p.m. Fowler says the 50-year-old Hardin was driver and lone occupant of a 1994 Buick headed east on Concord Road north of Gaffney when he drove left of the center line, striking a vehicle headed west.

Hardin was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and three passengers of the other vehicle were transported to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center for treatment.

Fowler said he has ordered an autopsy to assist with the continuing investigation by his office

North Carolina

Charlotte

3 arrested after deaf NC man killed during robbery

Three teenagers are under arrest after authorities say they stabbed a deaf man during a robbery and left him lying in the front yard of a Charlotte home festooned with Christmas decorations.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police say Michael Victor Shull of Conover was killed Friday while walking through a northwest Charlotte neighborhood to pick up his girlfriend. The couple had planned to go look at holiday lights.

Family members said the 21-year-old Shull was a recent graduate of the North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton who worked at a tire shop.

On Saturday and Sunday, homicide detectives arrested Aveance Bryant, Davonta Turner and Ashely Owens, charging the trio with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Bryant and Turner are 18. Owens is 19.

Durham

2 found dead after NC house fire

Durham authorities are investigating the cause of a house fire after two people were found dead inside.

The fire broke out Saturday about 9:30 p.m. Fire crews who entered the smoke-filed house found the bodies of a man and a woman. Their names have not been released.

Durham Fire Chief Daniel Curia has not disclosed whether investigators were able to determine the cause of the fire.

Concord

NC man shot and killed after argument

An N.C. man is dead following what authorities say was a violent argument fueled by alcohol.

WCNC Charlotte reported that Edward Lynn Putt was declared dead after a Saturday evening shooting near Concord.

Cabarrus County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene just before 6:30 p.m., where they found Putt with a gunshot wound to the chest. Authorities say the 47-year-old Putt had been arguing with Alan Pressley of Concord when the second man pulled a gun.

Deputies reported that alcohol contributed to the incident.

The 50 year-old Pressley is charged with voluntary manslaughter and carrying a concealed firearm. He is in jail under a $250,000 bond.

Hamptonville

Korean War soldier comes home 63 years after death

An N.C. soldier who died during the Korean War is finally resting in his native soil, 63 years after his death.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported that Sgt. First Class Harold Brown was buried Saturday with full military honors at Mountain Grove United Methodist Church in Yadkin County.

Brown enlisted in the Army in 1947 at the age of 17, rising to the rank of sergeant by the beginning of Korean War three years later. He was reported captured on Dec. 12, 1950, when his unit was overrun by Chinese forces. His was reported dead about two weeks later, likely from exposure to the harsh North Korean winter.

Brown remained unaccounted for until this year, when his remains were identified by using DNA samples from an aunt and cousin.

Waynesville

From wire reports