Durham police investigating reported shootout at American Tobacco Campus
Durham police investigated a reported shootout at downtown’s American Tobacco Campus on Thursday morning, the second shooting in the area in a week.
Officers responded just before 10 a.m. to reported gunshots in the 600 block of Jackie Robinson Drive, according to a Durham Police department news release.
ABC11, The News & Observer’s media partner, said the incident happened outside the parking deck at the corner of Jackie Robinson Drive and Julian Carr Street, near the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Witnesses reported two people were shooting at each other near the parking deck, according to the release.
Officers found a gun, shell casings and one unoccupied vehicle that had been struck.
No injuries were reported.
Shortly before 11 a.m., officers responded to a report of an active shooter in the area but found no evidence of one. Investigators learned the American Tobacco Campus had emailed staff and tenants about the shooting, prompting a 911 call.
Cristo Rey Research Triangle High School self-evacuated when officers arrived. They later returned to the building.
2nd shooting near ATC in week
Thursday’s incident was the second shooting at or near the American Tobacco Campus in the past week.
On April 11, police responded to gunfire reported in the 300 block of West Pettigrew Street. A short time later, a man who had been shot walked into the nearby bus terminal. He was taken to a hospital with injuries that were believed to be non-life threatening.
Police were looking for a stolen black Honda Accord in connection with that shooting.
Mayor comments on shooting
After the latest shooting, Mayor Leo Williams said during Thursday’s City Council meeting that he felt emotional seeing schoolchildren playing soccer where people had been shooting 45 minutes earlier.
“I really don’t care if you want to ignore it like it’s not happening,” he said. “Because it is, and it’s going to soon be in your backyard.
“The summer months are coming, where typically this type of behavior increases,” he said.
ShotSpotter and shootings
Williams was recently on the losing end of a 4-2 vote to discontinue ShotSpotter, a gunshot surveillance program that alerts police to the sound of possible gunfire. The program was put on hold in December pending a review.
The review by the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law found the program “more than doubled gunshot notifications in the Durham pilot area and led to a 1.2-minute reduction in median police response time,” but researchers could not say whether it reduced overall gun violence in the 3-square-mile area. Critics have been concerned the program could lead to overpolicing.
As of April 13, police had responded to 167 reported shooting incidents this year. That was down from 260 and 212 incidents in the previous two years.
On Thursday a police spokesperson referred The N&O to the Wilson Center report and said in an email “it would be inappropriate to speculate on if the ending of the ShotSpotter program has resulted in the decrease in reported shootings.”
How to help
Thursday’s shooting incident remains under investigation. Police ask anyone with information to contact CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200 or online at durhamcrimestoppers.org. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards of up to $2,000 for information leading to arrests in felony cases and callers never have to identify themselves.
Mary Helen Moore contributed to this story.
