Police investigating whether Durham man was killed in self-defense, records show
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Durham police are investigating the Sept. 23 shooting of Antonio McDonald as self‑defense.
- McDonald’s girlfriend’s brother reportedly shot him when McDonald pistol‑whipped her.
- McDonald was pronounced dead at the scene.
The fatal shooting of a Durham man this fall is being investigated as a possible case of self-defense, records show.
Antonio Devon McDonald, 39, was found dead in the 1900 block of Capps Street in East Durham about 9:45 a.m. Sept. 23, The News & Observer previously reported.
McDonald’s body was discovered next to the open passenger side door of a sedan in the street, according to a search warrant. He had been shot five times with a 10 millimeter handgun, his autopsy report found.
McDonald’s girlfriend and her brother, who had been inside the car, told police McDonald’s girlfriend’s brother shot McDonald in self-defense after he began pistol-whipping her, search warrants state. The N&O is not identifying the siblings because neither of them have been charged in the shooting.
“She was trying to get her belongings from their shared home, but was scared to go alone because [McDonald] had been showing violence towards her for about a month,” the medical examiner’s investigative report says. “She called her brother, and he came with her to the residence.”
The siblings spotted McDonald’s car and waited several houses down to see if he would leave, but when McDonald realized they were there, witnesses said he “ran barefoot through the yards, hopping fences, to go to [the siblings’] car,” the report states.
That’s when McDonald, gun in hand, allegedly opened the passenger door and began beating his girlfriend with it, according to the report. McDonald’s girlfriend’s brother then retrieved a firearm he kept in the car and shot McDonald, firing on him several times after “the first shot didn’t seem to do anything,” the report states.
“[W]hen he fired the last shot, [McDonald] finally stopped beating the girlfriend,” the report says.
McDonald’s autopsy found scratches on his legs “consistent with a chain link fence,” and his family reported “he may have used amphetamines or recreational drugs, possibly explaining the escalation of violence over the last several weeks,” the autopsy states.
Court records show McDonald pleaded guilty to several domestic violence-related offenses since 2010, most recently in August 2024 for a domestic violence protective order violation involving a deadly weapon in Alamance County. He was given two years of supervised probation and ordered to complete abuser treatment, but failed to do so, according to a probation violation recorded in July 2025.
In response to an inquiry from The N&O, a Durham Police Department spokesperson wrote, “This is an open investigation and we cannot release any additional information.”
