DURHAM, North Carolina — The SBI is investigating an officer-involved shooting that happened early Saturday morning in Durham.
Bill Ware says blue flashing lights are a rare sight in his quiet Durham neighborhood, so when he woke up this morning and saw police in front of his home, he knew something was wrong.
“I came outside and saw about 10 to 15 police cars down the street and walked down there and saw the police tape had blocked off the cul de sac and that’s when I found out something had happened between an officer and the family that lived down there,” Ware said.
Around 5 a.m., police responded to a domestic incident at a home on Bevel Court. Police say they found a man and a woman involved in an argument and things got physical. Durham police say the man wouldn’t cooperate and became aggressive. There was a struggle and an officer fired at the man. Paramedics took him to the hospital where he died.
“You never know what goes on inside someone’s household, so that was quite shocking to find out that a cop would take lethal action to stop what was going on, hopefully nothing like that ever happens again,” said Ware.
“I mean here we go again,” said neighbor, Morris Davis. “I don’t know the details. I don’t know what went down, but the police shooting an individual, here we go, that’s what’s in the news today.”
The SBI and the Durham Police Department’s Professional Standards Division are investigating the shooting.
“If it’s something domestic it doesn’t worry me,” said neighbor, Lois Marsh. “If it’s some random shooting in the neighborhood I would be really worried.”
The officers involved in this shooting have been placed on administrative leave with pay. Police have not released the names of the officers involved or the name of the man who was killed. Police did say the man who was killed was 30-years-old.
