A South Jersey community is coming together to stop the violence that they say is terrifying their town. A faith-based meeting just started in Millville to address people's safety concerns. NBC10's South Jersey Bureau reporter Cydney Long tells us why residents are so afraid.

Hurricane season is battering the world, and in its wake, consumers are advised to take caution when it comes to buying used motor vehicles.

“Storm damaged vehicles can show up thousands of miles away from their original home and may be offered for sale for years to come,” Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission Raymond P. Martinez said.

If the body, engine, transmission, or other mechanical components have been damaged due to complete or partial submersion in water, the vehicle is considered flood damaged, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Some indications of a flood damaged vehicle are:

• A musty and/or moldy smell of a deodorizer throughout the vehicle
• Rust on the metal parts of the car where water wouldn’t normally touch
• Water-stained upholstery, or water damage on door panels
• Mildew under carpeting, trunk and around the engine compartment

It is not illegal to sell a vehicle that has sustained flood damage, as long as the sellers disclose the status of the vehicle to potential buyers.

The owner of the vehicle must place the phrase “flood vehicle” on the title, assignment of certificate of ownership, or if a new vehicle, the manufacturer’s statement of origin, according to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.

Customers who think they have been sold a flood-damaged vehicle without disclosure may call the National Insurance Crime Bureau toll-free hotline at 1-800-835-6422.

New Jersey consumers may contact Motor Vehicle Commissions Business Licensing Services Bureau at (609) 292-6500 ext. 5013. For Pennsylvania consumers, a complaint can be filed with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Consumer Protection, or call (717) 787-9707.

In celebration of National Coffee Day on Friday, Sept. 29, Wawa plans on offering its customers free any sized coffee all day.

Throughout the day, all 760+ of its locations in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are expected to give away a combined total of nearly 2 million free cups of coffee.

All day long, customers are allowed to come in multiple times, and get any of Wawa’s eight varieties of coffee, any size, absolutely free.

“At Wawa we are always looking to connect with our customers in a meaningful way, so we are thrilled to be a part of National Coffee Day by offering customers our most beloved beverage for free, all day long, at all of our locations,” Wawa’s Chief Fresh Food & Beverage Officer, Mike Sherlock said.

Since 2000 Wawa has served more than 1 billion cups of coffee, and within the brewed coffee market, the company is ranked number 1 in Philadelphia, and number 6 in market share nationally.

NBC10's Matt DeLucia is live on the scene in Woodbury, New Jersey where a house sitter was found beaten to death. Stay with NBC10 for updates as this story develops.

First Alert Weather meteorologist Krystal Klei is tracking the last summery day for the week and it will finally begin to feel like Fall.

NBC10 is live on the scene where a man was found dead in a Fishtown Apartment. Stay with NBC10 as we learn more about this developing story.

Comedian and talk show host Steve Harvey faced massive backlash when he met with President Trump. NBC10's Jacqueline London speaks to Harvey about that meeting and the current state of his career.

For the first time since Hurricane Maria made landfall, two flights left Puerto Rico for New York. NBC10's Brandon Hudson speaks to passengers who were finally able to leave.

A South Jersey couple is desperate for answers after their son went missing nearly two months ago in Maryland.

David Gipson Smith, 28, left his family’s home in Pilesgrove, New Jersey back on August 5 at 8:30 a.m. Smith was leaving to visit a friend in Catonsville, Maryland and possibly move there.

“My husband Doug was in touch with him through texting twice that day, making sure he got to where he was going safely, to which David responded yes,” said David’s mother Julie Gipson Smith.

According to Julie, David’s friend in Maryland had a change of plans and wasn’t able to meet him that weekend.

“So she gave David the number of a friend of hers that David could hang out with for the weekend,” Julie said. “He had not been previously introduced to this person face-to-face, but had had one conversation with her previously. It is our understanding that David drove from Catonsville to Ellicott City to meet this woman at her home. He supposedly stayed with this woman and her family overnight on Saturday August 5th, but this created a problem because the parents didn't want him to stay.”

Doug tried to get in contact with David shortly before 8 a.m. on August 6. David’s phone went dead however and his parents were unable to reach him.
Julie wrote a detailed Facebook post laying out the timeline of text and phone call exchanges she believes occurred between David and his friend in Catonsville, Maryland as well as the woman in Ellicott City, Maryland prior to his disappearance. She also said she and her husband eventually met with the woman in Ellicott City on August 12 on a 22-acre property in Woodbine, Maryland.

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According to Julie, the woman had dropped David off at the property on August 7 and hadn’t seen him since then. Julie also said David had left his car at the woman’s home in Ellicott City.

Julie and Doug searched the property in Woodbine on August 12 but couldn’t find David. They then contacted police and the missing person investigation officially began. Police searched David’s car which had been left at the woman’s home in Ellicott City as well as the Woodbine property.

More than a month and a half later, David remains missing and no arrests have been made in connection to his disappearance.

“Every day that passes, the feeling that there has been criminal activity becomes more and more real,” Julie said.

Doug Smith serves as the head pastor of the Sharptown United Methodist Church. Now he and his family are relying on their faith for strength as they continue to search for their son.

“Our faith becomes substantial,” Doug said. “And the people around us are often the people who prop us up.”

Doug’s congregation and community helped raise a $5,000 reward for anyone with information leading to David’s whereabouts. If you have any information, please call 410-313-7867.

A teen boy was killed while two other teens and a girl were injured during a quadruple shooting in Philadelphia Tuesday night.

A 16-year-old boy, 11-year-old girl, 18-year-old man and 19-year-old man were on the 100 block of E. Pastorius Street at 8:38 p.m. when an unidentified gunman opened fire before fleeing the scene.

The 16-year-old boy was shot once in the left side of the back. He was taken to Albert Einstein Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 8:52 p.m. Police have not yet revealed his identity.

The 11-year-old girl suffered a graze wound to the right arm, the 18-year-old was shot once in the right side of his torso and the 19-year-old was shot multiple times in the left leg and once in the stomach.

The three surviving victims were also taken to Albert Einstein Hospital. The girl is in stable condition while the 19-year-old man is in critical condition. Police have not yet released the condition of the 18-year-old.

No arrests have been made and police have not released information on any suspects. If you have any information, please call Philadelphia Police.

NBC10's Katy Zachry is live on the scene of a triple shooting in North Philadelphia. When police first arrived on the scene, they found two victims who had been injured, but neighbors later found a third victim who was later pronounced dead. Stay with NBC10 as we learn more details on this developing story.

Here are the top news stories you need to know to start your day from your friends at NBC10.

TODAY'S TOP STORY 

House-Sitter Killed in NJ Home: A woman watching after a South Jersey home was found dead in a case of homicide. Someone found 26-year-old Shawneeq Carter dead inside a home along Hopkins Street in Woodbury Saturday night, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said Tuesday. The county coroner determined Carter, who hailed from Camden, was beaten to death. Carter was house-sitting the home with a front porch and trees out front for a resident who wasn’t in the Woodbury area at the time of the discovery, prosecutors said. Carter's cousin Derrick Parks told NBC10 her 5-year-old son as well as another child were inside the Woodbury house at the time of her murder, though it's unclear if they witnessed it.

• MORE ON THE HOMICIDE
  

WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY

NJ Couple Desperate for Answers After Son Goes Missing in MD: A South Jersey couple is desperate for answers after their son went missing nearly two months ago in Maryland. David Gipson Smith, 28, left his family’s home in Pilesgrove, New Jersey on August 5 at 8:30 a.m. Smith was leaving to visit a friend in Catonsville, Maryland and possibly move there. “My husband Doug was in touch with him through texting twice that day, making sure he got to where he was going safely, to which David responded yes,” said David’s mother Julie Gipson Smith. According to Julie, David’s friend in Maryland had a change of plans and wasn’t able to meet him that weekend. Doug tried to get in contact with David shortly before 8 a.m. on August  6. David’s phone went dead however and his parents were unable to reach him. Julie and Doug searched the property in Woodbine on August 12 but couldn’t find David. They then contacted police and the missing person investigation officially began.

• MORE ON THE MISSING PERSON
  

YOUR FIRST ALERT FORECAST  

Wednesday is expected to be similar with a slight chance of isolated rain in the area. Temperatures are expected to drop back to 70s by Thursday or Friday. Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.

Fallon Donates $20K to Maria Fundraiser: NBC late night host and comedian Jimmy Fallon lent a huge helping hand to students at the University of Pennsylvania who are raising money for victims of Hurricane Maria. The Daily Pennsylvania first reported the Tonight Show host donated $20,000 to the “Students with Puerto Rico” campaign, organized by three Penn students. A spokesperson with NBC later confirmed Fallon’s contribution. The student organizers of the campaign are working with representatives from 85 other universities across the country to raise money for Unidos por Puerto Rico, a public-private initiative helping victims of Maria. So far "Students With Puerto Rico" has raised more than $100,000.

• MORE ON THE DONATION
  

AROUND THE WORLD

Trump Suddenly Focuses on Puerto Rico, Promises Visit, Aid: Suddenly, just about all President Donald Trump can talk about is Puerto Rico. After not mentioning the hurricane-devastated island for days, Trump on Tuesday pushed back aggressively and repeatedly against criticism that he had failed to quickly grasp the magnitude of Maria's destruction or give the U.S. commonwealth the top-priority treatment he had bestowed on Texas, Louisiana and Florida after previous storms. Trump announced that he would visit Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands next week. He tweeted about Puerto Rico's needs. He talked about Puerto Rico during a meeting on tax cuts. He raised the subject at a Rose Garden news conference with the prime minister of Spain. And he attended a hurricane briefing. He called a meeting of agency heads tasked with helping Puerto Rico recover, and sent top officials out to the White House driveway to talk to reporters. FEMA Administrator Brock Long delivered specifics: 16 Navy and Coast Guard ships in the waters around Puerto Rico and 10 more on the way.

• MORE ON THE HURRICANE AID
  

That's what you need to know to Catch Up Quickly, but we've got more stories worthy of your time. Click here to check them out. 

An SUV careened into a bus stop in front of a major New Jersey hospital early Tuesday, killing a 59-year-old hospital employee and demolishing the stop, officials say.

The driver, who apparently was alone in the SUV, ran away from the scene.

The victim was standing at the River Road bus stop near Hackensack Meridian Health Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen when the SUV jumped the curb and struck her about 6:30 a.m., authorities say.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. A hospital representative confirms she was an employee at Harborage Nursing Home, and two co-workers identified her as Luisa Valdez.

"Luisa was a beautiful person," said coworker Angel Miranda. "She got along with everyone. We were good friends."

The co-workers say Valdez had just gotten off the bus to go into work and was having a cigarette at the bus shelter when the car slammed into her. Another neighbor says he saw her in scrubs. 

Valdez is a grandmother who has worked as a nursing assistant at Harborage for 25 years, the co-workers tell News 4. She is from North Bergen but had recently moved to Bayonne. 

Police are still looking for the driver who ran away; the only description offered so far is that he's about 6-feet-4.

K9 units have been sent to search for him. While the car was not reported stolen, the driver is not the owner of the small black Hyundai SUV, law enforcement sources say. 

Photos from the scene showed glass and other debris from the structure littering the sidewalk; the bus stop was so damaged it was nearly impossible to tell one had ever been there. 

It wasn't immediately clear how many people were at the bus stop at the time.

River Road was closed for hours as authorities investigated. 

A man who had been on his way to the bus stop shortly after the accident tells News 4 people often speed in the area.

A pair of thieves got away with thousands of dollars in designer bags from a Louis Vuitton shop at a mall in New Jersey, according to a report.

The suspects ran into the store inside The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack and started grabbing bags, police told the Hacksensack Daily Voice.

A witness told the Daily Voice they saw the suspects round a corner and run out with the pricey bags. They got away with about $9,000 in the purses.

Police are looking at surveillance footage in the hopes of catching the purse-snatchers. 

Philadelphia Police found a man dead in the hallway of a Fishtown apartment building and the alleged shooter still on the scene early Wednesday.

Gunfire rang out around 3:30 a.m. inside the complex at 1000 East Montgomery Avenue. Police and medics found the man on the floor of a second-story hallway dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

"We believe that the shooter and the victim did know each other," police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

The shooter cooperated with investigators and police recovered a semi-automatic gun, Small said.

The scene is right outside an apartment with children inside. Investigators took those children from that unit, police said.

No word yet on a motive for the shooting as investigators continued to question friends and family Wednesday morning.

The apartment building used to be a school, police said.

An American Airlines flight will take off from Philadelphia International Airport Wednesday packed with food, clothes, water and generators to help the victims of hurricane Maria. American Airlines capped the fees at $99 to make it possible for people who are reuniting with loved ones. NBC10's Pamela Osborne has more on the flight that is leaving for Puerto Rico.

Mikel Louis, who claims King Kells as his stage name, is a North Philadelphia student who now has his first album out. Louis says the opportunities he’s had only came along because of Inner Power Records, a free, student-run record label.

Inner Power Records, is an after school program production label in North Philadelphia that aims to boost local Philadelphia artists. Through Project HOME, a community determined to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty that houses the after school program in its Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs, Inner Power Records began in 2012 and aims to reach high schoolers who are interested in music and have big dreams: becoming the next star.

Inner Power Records teaches kids the ins and outs of music including writing, composing, recording and performing.

“When you say record label, especially to kids in the inner city, their eyebrows start to rise. Music is big in the city, man. It’s a way for kids to escape their reality or put down their reality on record,” Paul Dunnaville, digital music instructor of Inner Power Records, said.

At Inner Power Records, North Philadelphian kids come together sharing “fresh” ideas and different talents.

“I learned how to make music, make beats, instrumentals, all that… it makes me wanna keep doing it,” one of Dunnaville’s students said.

Others already knew music but say that Dunnaville inspired them.

“I love music, but he made me want to do it more,” Amr Ruffin said. “I started young. I was in second or first grade. I left in third grade and came back in eighth and so on.”

Others have already had some success because of the program. Louis, a.k.a King Kells says, “I owe my first album to the program… since then, it’s done pretty well. It’s available online and we have physical copies here at the center.”

Louis began with the program when he was a high school freshman. Now he’s at the Community College of Philadelphia earning credits while putting together a song called "Purpose."

“The music is the way I get to talk about the things I’ve done... I think this project has changed my viewpoint into a better more positive outlook,” Louis said. “I hope that my music has the ability to… help people change themselves through messages through my songs, as well as saving a life while bringing someone closer to God.”

Regarding Dunnaville, Louis said, “I can’t say enough good things about him… He makes the music program happen, from the beats to the performances to the shows… he carries it with a strong arm.”

Dunnaville says the idea for this label came in 2011 when it became “something I sensed the kids wanted to do.” He, however, has had years of experience in this industry.

In 2003 he worked for the nonprofit Education Works where he taught after school programs. Then he came to Project Home in Northern Philadelphia and asked himself, “What should I do with all this talent?”

“Initially, the class was designed just to teach them the fundamentals, and I was like ‘Let’s take it a step further,’” Dunnaville said.

This program received no “push back” from the community or Project HOME, according to Dunnaville, because it was a chance to keep kids out of poverty. `

Summed up, the label is a “basically a mock record label. Because we’re not out there as heavily as a real label would, but we operate in the same fashion. We have a production facility, a recording booth where we lay tracks and vocals.” Once they are old enough, Dunnaville said, he starts talking about the business aspect of music.

One of Dunnaville’s students, Louis, performed at Wawa Welcome America in July.

Every day Dunnaville said he tells his students to "take a look at what you have in front of you and use it to your advantage.” The kid-artists have access to state of the art computers and software.

“New York has it poppin’, Atlanta, so people always think if you’re from here you need to somewhere else to make it. No, with YouTube and other technology you can make it right here… Philly is a landmark. A lot of people have come through Philly and made it, so why can’t these kids too.”

Actor Larry David has a message for a study that reportedly states bald men are perceived to be more attractive to ladies: "what a crock of s---." 

David, creator and star of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," was on the "Today" show Wednesday to promote a new season of Curb when host Matt Lauer steered their conversation to baldness, a running gag in the show. 

"I always like to talk to you about things in the news," Lauer said. He then cited a study from the University of Pennsylvania that concludes, "bald men are perceived by ladies to be more attractive, confident and dominant as compared to their full-haired counterparts."

David, who is bald, responded: "What a crock of s---." 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he added. "It was so stupid, I had to say it. As a bald man, there's not a word of truth to any that." 

David's language caused an uproar on the set of "Today," prompting yells from people off camera and causing Lauer to stand up from his chair while laughing. Lauer said the expletive would be censored for central and pacific time zones.  

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" returns to HBO on Oct. 1. 

For the second time since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico last week, a flight from Philadelphia took off to deliver supplies and bring back people struggling to survive with scarce basic necessities like water, food and electricity.

On Wednesday morning, American Airlines flight 2028 took off from Philadelphia International Airport for San Juan, the territory's capital. The plane's cargo hold was stuffed with 31,000 pounds of supplies and baggage, much intended to help people in Puerto Rico, an airline spokesperson said.

Among the items headed to Puerto Rico on the Wednesday flight included power generators.

Wednesday's flight follows one sent Friday carrying 30,000 pounds of relief supplies – including 9,000 bottles of water.

American capped prices for flights from Philly directly to San Juan at $99 (the price is $128 with taxes added on) through Oct. 8 to make it less expensive for people to bring relief. American also waived size and weight restrictions and shipping costs to its own employees so that they could send large items to family and friends in Puerto Rico.

The "Operation Puerto Rico Strong" initiative is part of an effort to help people return to normal and to complete relief efforts in and out of San Juan, AA spokesman Justin Franco said.

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People around the continental United States are raising money and sending goods to Puerto Rico after Maria left most of Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million people without power. Store shelves are bare as residents struggle to find food and especially water in the aftermath of the storm.

The flights to and from the island nation also gave people a chance to touch base with family as nearly 90 percent of cell sites remained down Tuesday.

NBC10 and Telemundo62 reporters and photographers are on their way to Puerto Rico.

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NBC10 anchor Jim Rosenfield joined T62 reporters Alex Galarza and their photographers on the Philly flight to San Juan. The NBC10/T62 crew carried bags full of supplies to give to people struggling after the storm.

You don’t need to fly to Puerto Rico to help the relief effort. Here are some of the things you can do now to help.

Have you seen Semaj?

Philadelphia Police hope someone knows the whereabouts of 7-year-old Semaj Quamere Leake.

Semaj was last seen Tuesday at Lowell Elementary School on West Nedro Street in the Olney neighborhood wearing a light blue polo shirt, blue khakis and black Air Force One Nike sneakers, Philadelphia Police said Wednesday.

The 7-year-old stands 4-feet tall and weighs around 70 pounds. He has brown eyes and short black hair, police said.

Anyone with information on the boy’s whereabouts is asked to call Northwest Detectives at 215-686-3353 or call 911.