Durham police officers fire at suspects after investigation turns into shootout
Durham police officers investigating a reported shooting Sunday night found themselves in a shootout when suspects in two cars drove by, guns firing.
The officers had responded to a shooting in the 1000 block of Worth St., according to a Durham Police Department news release. They didn’t find anyone who had been shot, but they did find an empty car with bullet holes on the corner of Elm and East Main streets.
“A short time later, an adult male walked into a local hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound,” the department news release stated. Investigators don’t yet know if he was involved in the reported shooting.
After officers blocked off the crime scene, two cars came down Main Street with their occupants firing guns, the release continued.
Two officers on foot at the scene fired back, and both vehicles fled. No officers were injured, and there were no reports of anyone else being shot.
The officers have been placed on administrative leave with pay, which is standard procedure when officers fire their weapons, according to the department.
The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation has been notified, the release added, and the Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division and Professional Standards Division will both investigate the incident, which is also standard procedure.
The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun have asked police for more information, such as any description of the suspect vehicles, and will update this story as more information becomes available.
ShotSpotter meeting Monday night
As of June 18, Durham police had responded to 357 reported incidents of gunfire, according to the police department’s website.
That was down from 373 incidents and 403 incidents by the same time during the previous two years.
The number of total people shot by that date has held steady, with 114 people shot this year, 113 shot last year and 111 shot the year before by that date.
Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton and ShotSpotter chief executive officer Ralph Clark will hold a community meeting about the gunshot surveillance technology at 6:30 p.m. Monday at St. Joseph’s AME Church at 2521 Fayetteville St.
The Durham City Council recently agreed to spend $197,000 on a pilot program to try out ShotSpotter for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Middleton has long advocated the use of the technology, which uses acoustic sensors to spot potential gunfire.
Critics like council member and former Mayor Pro Tem Jillian Johnson worry it will send police to communities of color that are already over-policed and that it could lead to unconstitutional searches.
Anyone with information about Sunday night’s shooting is asked to call Investigator C. Brinkley at 919-560-4440 ext. 29322 or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to arrests in felony cases and callers never have to identify themselves.
This story was originally published June 27, 2022 at 8:08 AM.