Shootings common at Durham store where man was killed. ‘All the customers duck down.’
Standing in a small Durham mini mart, store clerk Salah Moustafa shared what it’s like to work at a place where shootings are frequent.
“Would you like to see the bullets in the store?” Moustafa, 57, asked a reporter.
“It’s too much,” he said, pointing to a black hole on the white wall above the chips and another spot where a bullet went through a poster, across the store, hit some canned drinks and shattered a door to a glass cooler.
Shootings happen there all the time, he said.
“All the customers duck down on the floor,” he said. “Many times that has happened.”
Moustafa works at the Two Brothers convenience store, on the corner of Dearborn Drive and Martin Street. The store is surrounded by homes and is about 1,000 feet from Lakeview School.
On Tuesday Durham police held a news conference in the store’s gravel parking lot, asking for help solving the May killing of 52-year-old J.C. Jones.
The killing was one of several shootings in the area, said Capt. Robert Gaddy, and police have adjusted staffing to maintain a presence there.
J.C. Jones shooting
On May 12 around 9 p.m. Jones was standing at the bus stop in front of the store when a passenger in a passing light-colored sedan opened fire in the direction of the store, said Investigator Joel Turner.
Jones was shot in the back and died. He is one of 23 who have been killed in Durham this year, compared to 16 at the same time last year.
“(Jones) was somebody’s son, father, brother, uncle and friend,” said Turner, reading a statement from Jones’ family. “It hurts that you hear about these senseless crimes in the Bull City, but then it knocks on your front door.”
Turner said he hasn’t found any evidence indicating Jones was the target of the shooting. It’s also unclear whether the target was a group of about four people who had parked and were walking toward the convenience store at the time of the shooting, he said.
Investigators believe the sedan was also involved in another shooting near Craven and Martin streets, a short time before Jones was shot. Shots were heard in the area, but no one was hurt.
“We value and appreciate the assistance of citizens who are willing to provide critical information, which can help prevent and stop shooting incidents,” Turner said.
It’s unusual for police in Durham to have a press conference for a single killing of an adult. Lt. Genavous Minor said it is one of the tactics that police are using to better engage the public.
Shootings remain high
About 119 people have been injured in shootings in Durham this year, compared to 117 at this time last year. About 80 were shot at this time in 2019.
In 2020, 318 people were shot over the entire year, a 70% increase over the previous year. 2020 had highest number of people shot in the Bull City since police started tracking it in 2016, The News & Observer reported.
Then Durham Police Chief C.J. Davis said in 2020 that a small number of mostly young people are committing most of the violence.
Nationwide increase in violent crime
The increase in homicides and shootings isn’t unique to Durham.
Homicides rose a total of about 30% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, which has been tracking crime in about 30 cities during the pandemic. Gun assaults were up 8%.
The sharp increases continued this year.
Homicides rose by 24% in the first three three months of 2021, the commission reported. Gun assault rates were up 22%.
The commission attributed the increases to the pandemic, social unrest and other factors.
Despite the dramatic increases, the 2020 homicide rate of 11.4 deaths per 100,000 residents is still below the 1995 rate of 19.4 per 100,000, the report points out.
“We need to be safe’
Moustafa wasn’t working when Jones was shot, but he has been at the store for other shootings since he started working there two months ago.
Sometimes people will drive by and let off one or two shots , Moustafa said, and sometimes there are dozens.
He stays safe, in part, by staying in his clerk area and talking to customers through a clear bullet proof partition at the front of the store. Outside the store, Moustafa points to cinder blocks stacked in front of a wall facing Dearborn Drive, meant to stop the bullets that fly from vehicles riding down the street.
As Moustafa looks around outside, he again starts pointing to bullet holes, some of which still appear to have evidence markers on them.
“Here, here, here,” he said. “It’s too much.”
His message for police and others fighting crime, he said, is he just wants to be safe.
“Please, we need to be safe,” he said. “We don’t like to hear anybody killed. We don’t like anybody shooting.”
Anyone with information about the Jones case is asked to call Investigator Turner at 919-560-4440, ext. 29532 or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to arrests in felony cases. Callers never have to identify themselves.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 3:53 PM.
