A family Christmas tradition turned into chaos when gunfire erupted during Concord’s tree lighting ceremony, leaving four injured and exposing how personal disputes now threaten America’s most cherished community gatherings. Violence Disrupts Family Tradition Around 7:30 p.m., gunshots shattered the peaceful atmosphere of Concord’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown North Carolina. Four individuals sustained injuries during the incident, which police quickly determined was not a random attack but rather a targeted dispute between people who knew each other. The shooting occurred as families gathered for one of the community’s most beloved holiday traditions, sending attendees fleeing in panic. Police Chief Jimmy Hughes praised first responders and community members for their quick actions that prevented additional casualties. The rapid law enforcement response helped secure the scene and evacuate attendees safely, demonstrating the importance of preparedness at public events. This incident underscores growing concerns about how personal conflicts increasingly spill over into community spaces where families should feel secure. Suspects and Victims Identified Concord Police identified three suspects connected to the shooting: Nazir Ahmad Bostic, 18, and an unnamed juvenile as the primary shooters, plus Keyvyonn Rayshaund Bostic, 17, charged as an accessory. Both shooters suffered critical injuries and remain hospitalized alongside one other victim. Two additional 17-year-old victims were also wounded, with one released from the hospital after treatment. The charges against the suspects include assault with a deadly weapon, inciting a riot, and accessory after the fact. Police continue investigating the specific nature of the dispute that led to violence at this family event. The involvement of multiple juveniles in this serious crime highlights troubling trends in youth violence that threaten community safety and traditional values. Community Impact and Security Concerns This shooting represents a broader pattern of violence infiltrating public gatherings across America, forcing communities to reconsider security measures for events that once epitomized safe family entertainment. The incident disrupted not only the immediate ceremony but also raised questions about future community events in Concord and similar towns nationwide. Local businesses and community leaders now face difficult decisions about balancing accessibility with security at public gatherings. The economic and social costs of enhanced security measures may fundamentally change the character of traditional community events. This erosion of public safety at family gatherings reflects larger societal problems that demand immediate attention from law enforcement and community leaders committed to preserving American traditions and values. Sources: Concord Police Identify Three Suspects, Issue Charges in Shooting at Tree Lighting Ceremony

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'Why is this extraordinarily good news for the future of Judaism?'

'With all due respect, wrong answer'

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Movies & TV It: Welcome to Derry IT: Welcome to Derry Invites You Into a Tunnel of Fear in “29 Neibolt Street” Both the kids and the adults intrude on IT’s home turf… By Leah Schnelbach | Published on November 24, 2025 Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO This week’s episode of IT: Welcome to Derry brings a lot of threads together! It’s titled “29 Neibolt Street”, which should give all you IT fans an idea of what you’re in for, and it was written by Brad Caleb Kane, and directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr. As Brief a Recap as a King Adaptation Will Allow We open on poor Taniel seizing and frothing at the mouth. Dick comes to, yells for help, and Taniel is whisked off to the med bay while Major Hanlon grabs Dick to steady him. The General tells him that “it’s time to give you some answers.” We cut to Margie at the doctor, getting her eye bandaged. Lilly is there, somehow, and Margie reassures her that she told the doctors that her glasses shattered, and that Lilly was trying to help her. (I’m still confused about how the 11-year-old is just able to wander into the hospital room unaccompanied.) Margie apologizes, cries, and asks if “it’s gonna happen again”. Lilly says, “I don’t know, but if it does, you won’t be alone.” The kids go to the Derry Tower, and Lilly laments that “the police think I attacked [Margie]”, but Rich is quick to add that “everyone thinks that”—and then proceeds to outline how literally everyone in Derry thinks Lilly attacked Margie, as the other kids stare at him. Not helpful, Rich! But the kids are interrupted by noises inside the pup tent they set up on the roof. As Rich tries to yell that this is a private club, a hand slides out and curls around the tent flap, the flap pulls back—it’s Matty??? How did Matty survive??? “Help me…” the boy whispers, and collapses. Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO The General explains to Major Hanlon about IT falling to Earth, and the Shokopiwah’s dedication to trapping IT. “Derry’s a prison, and we’re looking for the bars,” Hanlon says. And then the full truth hits him and he actually allows himself to lose his temper, slightly, with the General. Not for the blatant stupidity of trying to weaponize IT—but for allowing him to move his family to town that is essentially a prison for a monster. Back on the tower, Matty is pale and bruised, and obviously traumatized, but he’s able to tell the kids how he escaped the sewers. “The sewers, that’s where IT lives. The clown. IT kept some of us alive. IT feeds at night.” Lilly and Ronnie asks about the others, and he says that “Teddy was dead when IT dragged him in—his skull was ripped open, and IT ate his brains right in front of me.” He tells them that IT left Susie to bleed out, but that Phil, somehow, is still alive. They want to go to the cops—Ronnie so that Matty can exonerate her father, Lilly so they can send someone after Phil—but Matty absolutely refuses. If he goes to the cops they’ll send him back to his father. “I’d sooner go back to the sewers than back there.” The Shokopiwah are holding a meeting to outline the rules with one of the new Stewards. In this cycle, they’ve had 25 disappearances, and 7 confirmed deaths, making it a lighter cycle than previous ones. The new Steward refers to the “Augury”—one last big bloody event that will mark the end of the cycle. But before they can discuss it further a young man bursts in to tell Rose about Taniel’s arrest. At the same time, Hank is being moved to Shawshank. Charlotte is in the crowd to support him, but one of the kids’ dads—maybe Matty’s?—rushes the prisoners brandishing a gun. Eventually everyone is subdued and Hank is hustled onto the bus, but not before Charlotte sees a sweaty, grinning guard who looks disturbingly like a certain clown. The General is watching a civil rights demonstration on TV when Rose comes in to try to talk sense into him. He insists that he knows what he’s doing. He lied before when he said he didn’t remember anything. Hilariously, he was administered a drug by the Department of Defense, which brought all the memories screaming back. He remembers Rose saving his life from IT, and in remembering IT, he realized that he’s found a way to keep the country safe. Rose is horrified, but manages to talk him into at least letting her help. “Your lives depend on it.” We see her getting one of the shardblades from a safe, and she’s able to meet with Taniel and instruct him to use it. Given all the significant looks, it’s clear that she wants him to use it to protect himself, and let the chips fall where they may when it comes to the idiots who think they can control IT. Lilly goes to see her mysterious adult friend at her house, which is when we learn that this is Mrs. Kirsh, the wife of the butcher, who’s pretty clearly not the best guy to live with. She makes Lilly promise that she won’t go after Phil, except all Lilly says is “promise” not “I promise”, so I’m thinking it doesn’t count. Major Hanlon has Charlotte and Will moved into an apartment on Base, which neither of them are happy about, but it’s clear that Leroy has at least told his wife something about what’s going on… but not enough because she lets Will go for a walk around Base—like he’s going to stay on Base, come on—and then she sees a news report about the Shawshank transfer bus crashing. Hank has escaped. Meanwhile across town, the corner of Retta and Neibolt are shut down for a “gas leak”, and we see soldiers including Major Hanlon, Pauly, and Dick Hallorann working their way into 29 Neibolt Street, and down into the tunnels below. The kids have converged at the Derry Tower again. Lilly brings Margie, who insists she an “ex” Patty Cake when Ronnie gets angry. Lilly wants to go into the tunnels to get Phil, both to save her friend and to exonerate Hank. When the others balk, Lilly whips out another container of Valium. “My mom eats these like M&Ms,” she says. And then she says that he dad used to say that the people you met in life were either anchors or lifeboats—did they drag you under or did they keep you afloat? She tells them she doesn’t know where she’d be without all of them, but that Phil doesn’t have anyone. And the kids go around declaring themselves lifeboats. Right before Matty can chime in, Will arrives at the tower. “What’d I miss?” he asked. Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO We cut to Mrs. Kirsh getting in her car, only to find Hank lying on the backseat floorboards. “Don’t turn around, just drive” he orders, and she does, driving out to a forest. They both get out, and then, far from any eyes, they embrace. Mrs. Kirsh is Hank’s married lover. She’s in a state of near-despair—they’re combing the woods, so where can Hank possibly go to escape? But then his eyes light up. “I know a person,” he says. At the Neibolt house, the General warns them about not succumbing to fear, and making sure that if anything uncanny happens they shoot at it, basically, but the thing with that is that once IT’s taken over your mind, you really can’t reason or check in with reality anymore. It’s almost like they don’t know what they’re dealing with. Taniel leads them; the blade tucked into his belt. He takes a step and falls into waist-high water, and the rest of the men carefully jump in after him, until Dick comes up to the step and is suddenly falling into what looks like an ocean. When he comes up, he’s in a clawfoot tub in a bathroom. From the perspective of the men in the tunnels, he’s simply disappeared. In the bathroom, his grandmother says “Dicky he’s coming for you again”: the door opens, and there’s a grinning man carrying a toolbox wrapped in a chain and a padlock, and a gun tucked into his waistband. “Grandpa?” Dick says. Back in the tunnels, a group of soldiers are attacked by IT, who has taken the form of a demonic Uncle Sam and screams “I WANT YOU!!!” as IT unfurls ITs teeth. The kids, just entering the tunnels from the other side, pop three Valium a piece. Oh, no. When the General realizes that Hallorann has disappeared, Taniel uses that moment to bolt; the General shoots at his back as he runs, and at some point Taniel drops the shard into the water. There’s his protection gone. Back in the bathroom-memory, Dick’s grandma commands him to “keep that box closed,” as his grandfather tries to get him to open it, until he finally turns and shoots Dick’s grandmother in the leg. As she writhes and screams, Dick cowers on the floor, and his grandfather pops the padlock open—though it’s not clear how he’s able to do that, since Dick doesn’t visibly give in. Meanwhile, the kids are high AF. Margie and Rich end up holding hands (Margie tells Rich that his hand is soft “like a kitty cat’s belly”) and even thought the other kids are navigating both their highs and the tunnels, they still manage to turn around and ask “ARE YOU TWO HOLDING HANDS???” like normal tweens who are about to make a giant deal out of it, which is an excellent King-ian touch. Major Hanlon is walking with Pauly, hears someone calling his name, and sees Charlotte coming around the corner. Pauly yells that there’s nothing there, and Hanlon shoots. As the corpse floats in the water, her face transforms into Pennywise’s rictus grin and the body is sucked away under the water. Matty tells the other kids they’re close before they reach a dead end, and Matty climbs up onto a higher part of the tunnel above them. Brutalized bodies bob up in the water around them: Susie, then Phil… then Matty. The kids scream in terror as “Matty” turns in a circle singing, and, unsurprisingly, transforms into Pennywise and charges them. “Duck and cover, kiddos!” The kids scatter, and in the chaos Lilly is left behind. We cut to Major Hanlon and Pauly, and OH MY GOD Leroy hears Will and he raises his gun and the kids turn the corner as Pauly yells that he can see them, too, but it’s too late—Leroy pulls the trigger. Pauly dives in front of the gun, flies against the wall as the bullet hits him. Leroy orders the kids to get behind him as he tries to catch Pauly, who coughs up blood and tells him to let him go. “It’s my turn,” he says. “Make it count.” Meanwhile, the real Charlotte, who has no idea about any of this, is called to the Base’s entry gate. It’s Mrs. Kirsh, who introduces herself as Ingrid, and says she has something to talk about with Charlotte. Oh, no. But maybe Oh, yes? If anyone can help this poor couple get somewhere safe, it’ll be Charlotte. Lilly is chased into another dead end by Pennywise, who corners her and cackles, “You came down here because you’re such a GOOD friend”—and then he turns back into the mutated version of her father—“but such a BAD daughter!” He charges her, unveils his rows of teeth, and then—stops. Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO The shard glows on the floor of the tunnel in front of her. In all the chaos, she’s managed to run right over it. As Pennywise retreats, she grabs it and holds it in front of her. We cut to later in the day. Major Hanlon recounts Pauly’s death for an official recording, and the General tells him that the people who led them into this will “pay”, which—you mean the people who you forced to lead you into a deathtrap after they repeatedly told you not to go in there??? The Major doesn’t want to talk about any of that, he wants to go home to his family, but he does pause for a moment to ask if Dick Hallorann made it out. The General says that if anyone can make it out, he will. And right on cue, there’s Dick, coming out of the tunnel into the river. He looks around, sees Pauly… OH NO. He sees Pauly’s ghost, then carefully looks away before the specter can make eye contact, and then we see his box, on the floor of his grandparents’ bathroom, padlock shattered on the floor, bright light glowing from inside. Ohhh no. Do We All Float? Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO I was clearly wrong about Taniel setting a trap for them—although then Rose did try to spin his capture into a trap by using the shardblade, so I was right after all, haHA! I’ve only ever used Valium as a topical analgesic, so I’ll have to rely on someone else to tell me if the kids’ experiences were accurate—but they were hilarious. Also hilarious? The idea that General Shaw got MK Ultra-ed, and that’s why he suddenly remembered his childhood in Derry. I absolutely love that we met Mr. Kirsh as a man who was seemingly nice, welcoming, and not racist, only to immediately see him look the other way when a group of kids attacked a more vulnerable child, and now to learn that he’s an abusive husband to Ingrid—and on top of that that he’d probably literally murder her not for cheating, but for cheating with a Black man specifically. I’m glad that we finally learn why Ingrid is maybe slightly warmer to outsiders than the other Derry adults. As usual, I think the Muschiettis’ interpretation of Pennywise as a terrifying figure that rushes at his victim really fast brings some diminishing returns. We the audience are not being infected with his fear pheromones, and once I’ve seen the rows of teeth they get less scary each time. But any time they lean into Pennywise as a spectral presence is fantastic, and I love the dedication to making him a specific commentary on the people he’s attacking. Pennywise as a Demon Uncle Sam was pretty great. I don’t know about y’all but I was really invested in this episode. I think the threads all coming together worked extremely well, the twists all worked for me, and I genuinely yelled at my screen, covered my eyes, punched the air—it was an intense hour of television! I think the reason it worked so well was what I saw as a pair of reversals: I was afraid for the children and Major Hanlon because I thought they’d be decimated by IT Itself—the moment when I realized that Leroy had a gun trained on his own son I lost it. But it’s such an excellent way to adapt the themes of the story, as the whole point of IT is that IT worms ITs way into every part of your life, and hurts you in ways you don’t expect. Slightly less dramatic was that while I figured Matty was a plant of some kind, I second guessed myself and thought maybe Margie was the plant—so even that reveal worked a little, even though half of me expected it. Nice work, show! I loved Lilly’s speech about people being anchors vs. lifeboats. It felt like a thing a 1950s dad would actually say, it got across just how much Lilly loved her dad, and paid attention to what he said (I definitely get the sense that she was close with her dad, and is now stuck with the parent who never treated her well), and the lifeboat allegory works so well with the story’s recurring themes of drowning and floating. But once again my biggest concern might be Dick Hallorann. I don’t know how I feel about that? Part of me is annoyed that the IT prequel has also turned into The Shining: Zero Draft, but at the same time I’ve loved the character of Dick Hallorann since I was like seven years old, so seeing him as a younger man is mostly working for me. Especially given my love of Doctor Sleep, the moment when his grandfather walks in with the simple toolbox wrapped in a single chain made me shriek. (For anyone who isn’t caught up: Dick Hallorann’s grandmother taught him to use his psychic abilities, at least partly as a refuge from her horrific abusive husband, who hated that she and Dick shared a magical ability. One of the things he learned was to take the dark thoughts and literal ghosts that he saw, and lock them in a sort of mental box. Years later, he teaches this trick to young Danny Torrance, who also has the gift his grandmother called “Shining”, and later Danny teaches it to Abra in Doctor Sleep after the two form an accidental mental bond when Abra’s a little girl. In Doctor Sleep, Danny’s “boxes” are elaborate trunks like something you’d find backstage at a Victorian theater, so seeing Dick’s simple black toolbox almost made me cry.) But again: what exactly has happened here? How did his “grandfather” force him to unlock his mental box? Was it just that since that’s his greatest fear, IT was able to work against him? And, maybe even more important—what has he released? Will he now see every specter and ghost in the greater Derry area? Can they attack him? Or is IT trying to weaponize his Shine, just as the military is trying to weaponize IT? I say again: OH NO. #JustKingThings Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO Once again Rich is a nervous, hilarious motormouth, especially in his matter-of-fact listing of all the people who think Lilly gouged Margie’s eye out. Again, this is why I love King: he understands that some of us will always say the wrong thing, and some of us will always wield humor like a shardblade, no matter what. And speaking of comic relief: how fantastic is it that Pauly gets a hero moment? I didn’t want the man to die, but it’s really cool to see the other hilarious motormouth save Will’s life, and Leroy’s sanity, and get to have enough time to say goodbye to his friend. So many stories slot people into the funny sidekick role, and leave them there, but here in King’s world they get to be heroes, too. Turtles all the Way Down We see one of the shards in action, and we learn that the U.S. military has completely invested in the Shokopiwah’s version of the story of IT. They’ve just severely misunderstood it. Mike Hanlon’s Photo Album The cycles of 1908 and 1936 are discussed! Horrifying to hear that this is a lighter cycle than past ones. Ridiculous Alien Spider, or Generationally Terrifying Clown? Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO Bill Skarsgård finally gets to make a few more appearances as Pennywise, and they’re all fabulous, because he’s fabulous. BUT the scariest moments in this episode are a parent coming after the innocent Hank Grogan with a gun, and Major Hanlon almost killing his own son, and then, instead, accidentally killing his best friend. But as far as Pennywise goes, thinking back on Matty telling the other kids about how IT ate Teddy, how IT let Susie bleed to death overnight, and then lying to them and planting the false hope that Phil is still alive—knowing that that’s IT the whole time, taunting them, recounting ITs murders with relish—I think that’s more frightening and awful than any of the more obvious forms IT takes. And let me say: Miles Ekhardt kills all of his scenes.[end-mark] The post <em>IT: Welcome to Derry</em> Invites You Into a Tunnel of Fear in “29 Neibolt Street” appeared first on Reactor.

News It: Welcome to Derry That Matty Clements Twist in Welcome to Derry Episode 5 Almost Happened in It: Chapter Two Co-showrunner Jason Fuchs spills the beans By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on November 24, 2025 Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO Warning! This post contains spoilers for the fifth episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, “29 Neibolt Street.” The latest episode of HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry held more than a few surprises. We see Matty Clements (Miles Ekhardt) apparently still alive at the beginning of the episode, something surprising, given the cold open of the series saw him in that car with a far-from-friendly family.   It turns out, however, that Matty is truly dead, and after leading the kids into the sewers to try to rescue another presumed-dead kid, Phil (Jack Molloy Legault) morphs into Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård), revealing that Matty in this episode was IT all along. In an interview with Decider, co-showrunner Jason Fuchs revealed that the twist of Matty being IT the whole time was an idea initially hatched for the film, It: Chapter Two. “There was a version of that script where Mike Hanlon—who has obviously been guiding our adult Losers the entire time—eventually takes them down into the sewers, takes them down into IT’s sanctuary, where they find Mike Hanlon’s body,” Fuchs said. “And you realize that the Mike Hanlon we were with the whole journey of It: Chapter Two was a manifestation of IT.” Fuchs, along with Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti, ultimately decided not to use that premise for the film, as it veered too far away from Stephen King’s novel. The series, however, gave them more leeway, and the Matty/Pennywise twist worked well at this point in the season. “We decided that, in this season, Pennywise should be a little bit like the shark in Jaws,” Barbara told Entertainment Weekly about Pennywise’s relatively late reveal on the show. “You really want to be strategic. In both movies, it was very important for us to keep the mystery and the fear for this character alive. We find that familiarity is the enemy of that. So it was important for us to delay the pleasure, or the terror, as much as we could.” We’ll get to see what Pennywise gets up to in the three remaining episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry, which release on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max. [end-mark] The post That Matty Clements Twist in <i>Welcome to Derry</i> Episode 5 Almost Happened in <i>It: Chapter Two</i> appeared first on Reactor.