Four arrested on concealed-gun charges in downtown Raleigh weekend sweep

Concealed guns turned a busy downtown Raleigh weekend into a public-safety test for Glenwood South and the city’s nightlife corridors. Raleigh police arrested four men on concealed-gun charges in downtown over the weekend, including two cases in Glenwood South, as officers also responded to a shooting near Tucker Street and a separate Fayetteville Street fight that ended with six stabbings.

The first arrest came early Saturday in the 600 block of Glenwood Avenue, where police said Steven C. Jones Jr., 20, of Pittsboro, was found with a Glock G20 10mm and charged with misdemeanor carrying a concealed gun. Later that day, officers said Malcolm S. Hunter, 45, of Raleigh, was found in the 400 block of Fayetteville Street with a silver Derringer .38 Special. Hunter was charged with felony possession of a firearm by a felon and misdemeanor carrying a concealed gun, and his arrest warrant said he had been convicted of felony heroin possession in New Jersey in 2002.

Two more arrests followed in places that sit squarely in downtown’s late-night path. Police said Wayne Anthony Sanders Jr., 29, of Nashville, was found in the 100 block of S. Blount Street with a black Taurus G3 9mm and a quarter-filled bottle of Don Julio. In Glenwood South, police said Kylen Dashaun Harrison, 28, of Nashville, was found at 715 E. Johnson St. with three concealed guns, a Rossi Amadeo .38 Special, a Taurus G2C and a Taurus GX4. Harrison was also charged with an open-container alcohol violation.

The arrests landed in the middle of a weekend that already had downtown business owners, workers and visitors on edge. Police responded early Sunday to a shooting in the 500 block of Glenwood Avenue near Tucker Street that injured a man and led to two detentions. On Fayetteville Street, a large fight involving about 20 people ended with six people stabbed, and Frank Lalich was charged in connection with the violence. District C Councilman Corey Branch said the Fayetteville Street stabbing appeared to be an isolated dispute that escalated.

The city has spent years trying to harden downtown without choking off the bars, restaurants and foot traffic that make it work. In September 2023, Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said Raleigh planned to add private security to Glenwood South and other downtown locations, and police had already increased patrols there. The Downtown Raleigh Alliance later expanded security measures along Glenwood South, with extra patrols starting in late 2023.

Raleigh’s Downtown District covers downtown Raleigh, Glenwood South and Moore Square, and the city tracks police incidents through its open-data portal using NIBRS-based reporting. That makes the weekend’s concealed-gun arrests more than isolated charges: they are part of the data trail that will show whether downtown is facing a brief flare-up or a more persistent weapons problem.