Durham police identify man found fatally shot on Main Street
Durham police have identified a man found fatally shot inside a car Tuesday night on East Main Street.
Jelani Whittington, 37, of Durham, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The killing is the latest in a string of shootings over the last two weeks.
▪ Demeico Sowell Jr., 20, was fatally shot while driving Nov. 25 near Liberty Street. His car then hit five other people, including a child.
▪ Trayvion Lamar Amerson, 23, was fatally shot Nov. 24 on Dawkins Street.
▪ Keith Ashanti Kennedy, 46, was found fatally shot Nov. 21 on the sidewalk on Meriwether Drive.
Police have not announced any arrests or suspects in any of the fatal shootings.
As of Nov. 7, there had been 823 shooting incidents reported in Durham, compared to 589 by the same time last year, according to data from the Durham Police Department.
A total of 274 people had been shot in those incidents, compared to 159 people by the same time last year.
YTD through Nov. 7 | 2019 | 2020 |
Shootings | 580 | 823 |
Persons Shot | 159 | 274 |
Fatal | 29 | 24 |
Non-Fatal | 130 | 250 |
“The Durham Police Department is constantly reviewing, adjusting and reevaluating our approaches in an attempt to offer the best service we can to our community, utilizing all of the resources at our disposal,” Michael Kammie, a Durham police spokesman, said in an email to The N&O.
The department’s Violent Crime Task Force dedicated to shooting cases is working closely with other city investigators and law enforcement to identify crime trends and suspects, she said.
