Fatal Durham shooting ruled self-defense. How domestic violence played a role
The staccato bursts of gunfire were the first thing the 911 operator heard when the call came in during the early January darkness.
Six shots rang out before the caller spoke.
“We’ve got a shooter,” he said.
Another three shots followed by the time the operator could ask for an address — and then, a brief respite.
“There’s somebody trying to break in right now,” the caller told her. “He just unloaded a magazine at us.”
By the time the roughly 6-minute call was over, at least another five shots had been fired, and Judah Taylor, 50, lay dead in the bedroom of his estranged wife’s single-story Braggtown home.
Three months later, the Durham County District Attorney’s Office has deemed Taylor’s death a justifiable homicide.
Here’s what we know.
‘He’s in the house’
It was about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2025, when a man called 911 from a Lions Court home in Durham to report a break-in. His wife’s ex-husband had cut off the power to the residence, the caller said.
“Please send somebody immediately,” he pleaded. “He’s trying to get through the back door.”
Banging and muffled cries of shock could be heard on the call. The caller was barricaded in the bedroom with a gun in his hand, but he only had four bullets, he said.
Then, almost two minutes in: “He’s in the house.”
Seconds later, a series of bangs went off. “Hey, what is that noise?” the operator asked.
“It’s a gunshot,” the caller said calmly.
More shots sounded, and a woman could be heard shouting in the background.
“He’s down,” the caller said. “He just came through the bedroom door and I shot him.”
Later that day, the Durham Police Department sent out a news release. Taylor, of Morrisville, had been pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency Medical Services radio traffic indicates he had been shot in the head.
Court records indicate this was far from the first time Taylor had allegedly broken into the home, where his estranged wife and their three children lived. The News & Observer is choosing not to name Taylor’s wife to protect her privacy. She did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The couple married in Massachusetts in 2014, according to a divorce petition filed by Taylor’s wife Dec. 17. They separated in April 2022, and she purchased the Lions Court home that month, property records show.
Almost immediately, problems began. According to Durham County 911, first responders were called to the home more than 20 times in the past three years.
The first call came 19 days after Taylor’s wife purchased the home, with police called to a report of domestic violence at 9:29 p.m.
Just over a month later, police responded to an assault at the residence. Then, 11 months later, EMS and police were called to another assault, this one explicitly notated as domestic violence-related.
In the at least 16 calls that followed, first responders addressed issues such as sexual assault to threats of suicide. Some calls were tied to incident reports where Taylor was arrested on charges like cyberstalking and violating a domestic violence protective order, records show.
What was going on?
What court records show
Court records hint at the pattern of domestic violence that had emerged — an issue that may not have begun with Taylor’s then-wife.
Taylor, a Nash County native who grew up in Vance County, first faced domestic violence-related charges in 2001, when he was charged in Vance County with assault on a female, according to court records. He pleaded guilty and wasn’t formally sentenced as part of a “prayer for judgment continued” — when a defendant avoids a sentence by meeting certain requirements.
Taylor began facing domestic violence charges again in 2017. Before he and his wife formally separated, court records show he faced the following charges:
Assault on a female in Brunswick County in 2017.
Second-degree burglary and sexual battery in Durham County in 2021.
First-degree forcible rape, assault in the presence of a minor and violation of a domestic violence protective order in Durham County in 2021.
Stalking when a court order was in effect and two counts of violation of a domestic violence protective order in Durham County in 2021.
In 2021 alone, Taylor was convicted of nine charges in Durham County: assault by strangulation, communicating threats, second-degree kidnapping, assault in the presence of a minor, two counts of violation of a domestic violence protective order, stalking when a court order was in effect, second-degree burglary and sexual assault.
Taylor was ordered by a Durham County judge to undergo domestic violence abuser treatment in June 2021, but it’s not clear if he ever did. And after his formal separation from his wife in April 2022, the charges kept piling up.
In 2023, Taylor was charged with assault by strangulation and violation of a domestic violence protective order, which he pleaded guilty to the following year. He received a suspended sentence of 17 months to 30 months, and his probation in the 2021 cases was extended by two years, according to court records.
In December 2024, Taylor faced a slew of charges after allegedly breaking a window panel on the back door of the Lions Court home and repeatedly texting and emailing his estranged wife, despite a permanent no-contact order being in place — with the exception of facilitating custody exchanges for their children. He posted $10,000 bail Dec. 13 after being charged with breaking and entering.
Taylor was indicted the day before he died on charges of felony stalking and violating a domestic protective order tied to the December incidents, according to court records. An order for his arrest was issued that same day, but he was not arrested before the shooting.
Hours later, he was fatally shot in front of his children, whose wails could be heard in the background of the 911 call.
Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry told The News & Observer her office and Durham police had mutually decided the shooting was in self-defense. No charges will be filed, and the investigation is closed, according to a Durham Police Department spokesperson.
“His Mom often said ‘he was complicated’ — no doubt because he was so compassionate and felt everything so deeply,” Taylor’s obituary reads. “He loved being a father most of all.”
