RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Police say they arrested a 23-year-old man suspected of shooting at least eight vehicles on a busy North Carolina highway as well as several area homes in recent days, in attacks that wounded a motorist.
Andrew Thomas Graney was arrested Thursday at a home in Raleigh, the state capital. Two dozen law enforcement officers with guns drawn approached the home and later led two people out in handcuffs, WRAL-TV reported. The other person was later released without charge, police said.
Graney is charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with the intent to kill or inflict serious injury and 11 counts of firing a weapon into an occupied vehicle or dwelling, police said in a news release.
Police have not said whether Graney has a lawyer. Relatives of Graney, who remains jailed, didn't immediately respond to voicemails or emails seeking comment.
Police haven’t disclosed a possible motive.
Graney's mother, Treka Graney, told WRAL-TV that she hadn't seen her son for several months and that he was not raised with guns in the home. “This is not my son,” she said.
“It totally took me off guard,” she said. ”It is totally out of character. ... He’s a sweet boy. Everybody loves him. He always stands up straight, he’s very polite. He always follows the rules.”
The shootings, which apparently began Monday, stoked fear in the area.
The case began to get attention after several people reported gunfire on a stretch of Interstate 40 in Raleigh and the suburb of Cary around the Wednesday morning rush, police said. Reports of similar shootings then emerged.
Authorities said eight vehicles were struck, including two on Monday, four on Wednesday and two on Thursday. Four area homes were shot on Wednesday, police said. All of the shootings were connected, Raleigh's police chief said.
One of the shots struck a woman in the leg early Monday while she was traveling on I-40, police said. Her injuries were not considered life-threatening. Most of the cars that were shot contained only the driver, but one had four occupants, authorities said in court records. People were also in the homes when they were shot, police said.
Investigators believe a Llama .45 Max 1 handgun was used in the shootings, court records show.
Graney was ordered to remain in custody. His first court hearing was scheduled for Friday afternoon.
The attacks are just the latest highway shootings in the U.S. In Kentucky in September, law enforcement led a massive, multi-day manhunt for a man who shot 12 vehicles and wounded five people on Interstate 75. The man’s remains were later found and identified.
Man is charged in highway shootings around North Carolina's capital city
Man is charged in highway shootings around North Carolina's capital city
Raleigh police officers, some in tactical gear, work the scene where two people were detained Thursday afternoon, Nov. 7, 2024, on Kentford Court in Raleigh Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, after someone repeatedly fired at cars on a busy highway near North Carolina’s capital this week, injuring one person. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars broadcasts could end next week as he faces a court-ordered auction of his company's assets to help pay the more than $1 billion defamation judgment he owes families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Or maybe not.
Both opponents and supporters of the bombastic internet show and radio host have expressed interest in bidding on the Infowars properties he has built over the past 25 years. They include Roger Stone, an ally of Jones and Donald Trump, and anti-Jones progressive media groups. If Jones supporters buy the assets, he could end up staying on Infowars.
Up for sale are everything from Jones' studio desk to Infowars' name, video archive, social media accounts and product trademarks. Buyers can even purchase an armored truck and video cameras. For now, Jones' personal social media, including his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, with 3 million followers, are not up for sale, but court proceedings on whether they should be auctioned are pending.
The auctions resulted from Jones’ personal bankruptcy case, which he filed in late 2022 after the Sandy Hook families were awarded nearly $1.5 billion in damages in lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas over his claims that the school shooting was a hoax. Many of Jones’ personal assets also are being liquidated to help pay the judgment.
The deadline to submit bids and nondisclosure agreements on the Infowars assets is Friday afternoon. After the bids are reviewed, prospective buyers deemed qualified will be invited to a live auction that could see multiple bidding rounds next Wednesday. Any items not sold will be put up at another auction on Dec. 10.
Jones has expressed confidence that supporters — whom he did not name — will buy the assets of Infowars and its parent company, Free Speech Systems, allowing him to continue using its platforms. He also appears to be preparing for losing the brand because he has set up new websites and social media accounts and has been directing his audience to them.
“There’s a lot of buyers, people that are patriots that want it and will come in,” Jones said on his show in August. “If not ... we'll work with somebody else, fire something up. And it’ll be a little bit of a hiccup for the crew, and things. But that will just make us bigger.”
Email messages to Infowars and Jones' bankruptcy lawyer were not returned.
It’s not clear how much money the auctions might bring in. In court documents, Free Speech Systems listed the total value of its properties and holdings at $18 million. Proceeds from the sales will go to creditors including the Sandy Hook families, who have not yet received any money from Jones and his company.
Confidentiality agreements and sealed bids generally are used in auctions to maximize bid amounts while preventing bidders from talking to each other and driving down the offers. The trustee in Jones' bankruptcy case said in court documents that the procedures for the Infowars auction were designed to attract the highest possible bids.
Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut lawyer representing the Sandy Hook families, called the auctions an important milestone in their yearslong fight to hold Jones accountable. He also said the families will be seeking a portion of all Jones' future income.
“From the beginning, the Connecticut families have sought to hold Jones fully accountable for his lies and to protect other families from him,” Mattei said. “Stripping Jones of the corrupt business he used to attack the families while poisoning the minds of his listeners is an important measure of justice.”
The families sued Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress for repeatedly saying on his show that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.
Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’ hoax conspiracies and threats by his followers.
Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting did happen, is appealing the judgments.
Jones has made millions of dollars from his internet and radio shows, primarily through sales of nutritional supplements, survival gear, clothing and other merchandise.
Jones and other right-wing commentators once on the fringe have catapulted in popularity as many people have moved away from traditional news sources. Trump elevated them further during his 2024 campaign by repeating some of their conspiracy theories and appearing on several of their podcasts and shows. On Thursday, Jones, a long-time Trump supporter, even accepted proposals, some perhaps tongue-in-cheek, by Donald Trump Jr. and other conservatives to be the president-elect's press secretary.
Stone, the Jones and Trump ally and a conservative commentator, said on his X account and on Jones' show that he would like to put together a group of investors to buy Infowars. He did not return email and social media messages on Thursday.
“I understand the importance of Infowars as a beacon of the truth, as a beacon of truthful information. And therefore, I would like to do whatever I possibly can to ensure, if possible, that Infowars survives," Stone said on Jones' show in September.
People on social media also have urged billionaire Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and X, to buy Infowars, an idea Jones has backed but Musk has not publicly responded to.
On the other side, Jones' detractors have shown interest in buying Infowars, kicking Jones out and turning it into something else, such as a news site that debunks conspiracy theories or even a parody site. They include officials at two progressive media sites, The Barbed Wire and Media Matters for America.
An opinion piece by The Barbed Wire in September by publisher Jeff Rotkoff had a headline that read, "Let’s Buy Infowars. Alex Jones used these exact materials to exploit his viewers, peddle conspiracy theories, and damage the lives of grieving parents. We want revenge.”
Rotkoff urged readers to donate money to help put in bids, but he said Thursday that The Barbed Wire, based in Jones' home state of Texas, was now unlikely to make any offers.
“But we have talked to a number of similarly ideologically aligned bidders and we are certain we will be outbid,” Rotkoff said in an email. “We’re thrilled that there appear to be multiple well-resourced bidders who share our interest in undoing much of the damage to our country done by Alex Jones. We’ll be rooting for those folks to be successful.”
He declined to say who the other potential bidders were.
Who exactly has submitted bids so far has not been disclosed. Jeff Tanenbaum, president of ThreeSixty Asset Advisors, which is helping to run the auction along with Tranzon Asset Advisors, would only say there have been a large number of inquiries.
If detractors buy up Infowars' properties and Jones gets the boot, he should be able to build new platforms fairly quickly, said Melissa Zimdars, an associate professor of communication and media at Merrimack College in Massachusetts.
“As long as there is an audience hungry for his content — and there is — he’ll be able to utilize X and various fringe social media platforms," she said in an email.
FILE - Bill Sherlach, husband of Mary, one of the Sandy Hook School shooting victims, speaks to the media after jurors returned a $965 million dollar judgement in the defamation trial against Alex Jones, in Waterbury, Conn., Oct. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File)
This undated photo provided by ThreeSixty Asset Advisors shows the Infowars set. (ThreeSixty Asset Advisors via AP)
