2 teens now arrested in juvenile’s shooting death in Durham
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- Donnell Stanford, 18, was arrested Wednesday in the Durham killing of a juvenile.
- Stanford’s arrest warrant identified the victim as Jamier Tanner.
- Stanford was already out on bail in a Wake County burglary case.
Two teens, including a Raleigh teenager connected to a 2024 Wake County killing, have been arrested in Monday’s fatal shooting of a Durham juvenile.
Donnell Antonio Stanford, 18, was arrested about 7 p.m. Wednesday at his North King Charles Road home on a charge of murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, arrest records show.
A 16-year-old was also arrested, Durham police said Thursday. Police declined to share the younger teen’s name, citing their age.
Durham police were called to a report of gunfire on South Alston Avenue just south of the Durham Freeway shortly after noon Monday, The N&O previously reported. A child whom police have not publicly identified had already been taken to the hospital and was pronounced dead.
Stanford’s arrest warrant identified the victim as Jamier Tanner, but didn’t specify his age. The warrant also accuses Stanford of assaulting two other people with a semi-automatic pistol that day.
Stanford was also charged by Raleigh police with assault by pointing a gun and communicating threats in a separate incident that same day. He’s accused of pointing a black handgun with an extended magazine at a woman and telling “her to move out of the way or he would shoot her,” the warrant states.
Accused in break-in tied to fatal shooting
Stanford was already out on bond in a pending burglary case in Wake County tied to the 2024 killing of 24-year-old Serenity Spencer, records show.
In that case, he’s charged with first-degree burglary and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon in a June 30, 2024, incident at a Hodge Road home in Wendell about 18 hours before Spencer was shot.
Search warrants allege Stanford and three other men, all wearing balaclavas, approached a man sleeping in a truck in the home’s backyard and demanded at gunpoint he get down on the ground.
“The suspects then forced their way inside the residence and held everyone inside at gunpoint asking, ‘Where the [expletive] at?” the warrants state. “When the victims did not give the suspects anything, the suspects left.”
Spencer would be fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting as she stood in the home’s driveway shortly before 11 p.m. that night, according to court documents.
Three men had been charged in her killing as of Thursday afternoon — 20-year-old Kahlil Hahson Atkinson of Raleigh, 20-year-old Xavier Donameche Atkinson of Knightdale, and 16-year-old Syncere Pigford of Raleigh, The N&O previously reported. Kahlil Atkinson and Xavier Atkinson are brothers.
Stanford has not been charged in Spencer’s death, but a search warrant in the case noted one of the people involved in her death called Stanford “multiple times prior to the home invasion and then prior to and after the homicide.” He was also reportedly seen in photos with Kahlil Atkinson and another man “posing with several handguns and rifles” 45 minutes before the shooting, a warrant states.
An indictment in that case alleges Stanford and three other men broke into a Hodge Road home around 4 a.m. while two people were inside and threatened a woman with a black handgun while trying to steal unspecified property from her. Stanford posted $200,000 secured bond July 3. Court records don’t specify when he’s next due in court in that case.
The investigation into the killing remained open as of Thursday afternoon, with additional charges and arrests a possibility, police said.
As of Feb. 14, a total of 18 people had been shot in Durham this year, six of them fatally. That compared to 21 people shot, with three killed by the same time last year, police statistics show.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about Monday’s shooting is asked to contact Investigator C. Bernock at 919-560-4440 at ext. 29414 or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200 or online at www.durhamcrimestoppers.org.
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 8:30 AM.
