Mayor praises ‘incredible’ residents after Durham shooting, promises 911 transparency

Police arrived at the McDougald Terrace community Wednesday night — where four people had been shot — three minutes after being dispatched, Durham Mayor Steve Schewel said Friday.

Speaking outside City Hall on Friday, Schewel said the first 911 call came in at 9:26 p.m. Police were dispatched at 9:27 p.m. and the first police car arrived at 9:30 p.m.

“Three minutes,” Schewel told reporters.

“I’m proud of that,” he said. “That is good time. That is excellent time.”

The 911 system has come under renewed criticism after residents who tried to report the shooting said they couldn’t get through to an operator. A city spokesperson confirmed Thursday that the 911 center has 25 vacancies among the 60 full-time positions that take emergency calls.

Two weeks ago, a Durham resident said he had to call 911 four times, and his wife called three times, to report strangers outside his home trying to break into his car, The News & Observer previously reported.

911 center transparency

The Durham Emergency Communications Center is funded by the city and county and run by the city.

The center had 407,084 incoming calls in 2020, according to its website. Most of the calls each year do not concern violent crime, Schewel said.

The mayor said Friday he wanted to “set the record straight” after residents who called 911 Wednesday night said they got a recorded message. He said there is no message machine at the 911 center.

“There were 81 calls that came in in a very short time period,” Schewel said. “Hold. Hold the line, and you will be answered. Don’t hang up, or you’ll just be at the back of the line.”

Eighty percent of calls are being answered within 10 seconds or less, the mayor said, which is below the desired standard of 90%.

That is not good enough, he said. The city has four trainees who will join the 911 center soon and more recruits behind them. Next week, the city will post data on its website to be transparent about calls and response times, he said.

‘Incredible work’ of residents

Schewel praised “the incredible work” of McDougald Terrace residents who rushed to care for those shot Wednesday night, applying pressure to wounds to stop the bleeding.

“I read one of the residents said in the paper, ‘We had to be the first responders’ that night, which in many ways they were,” he said. “They were there to help people who were shot — which, can you imagine? Can you even imagine.”

In an interview, Ashley Canady, the president of the public housing neighborhood’s residents council, told The N&O how she and her neighbors grabbed towels to aid the victims, one of whom later died.

“I am proud of my community,” Canady said. “The community was the first responders last night.”

Police have not announced any arrests or suspects in Wednesday’s shootings, which also included an incident on Linwood Avenue in which two people were shot. They also have not said whether the shootings may have been connected.

A seventh person was shot while driving on nearby Ridgeway Avenue on Thursday afternoon. She crashed the car and was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, police said.

Staff writer Virginia Bridges contributed to this story.

This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 2:56 PM.