WRAL Doc: Durham Under Fire
Respond to South 0.1 shot in the foot and I
convicting the shot in the chest
Three people shot inside the streets of South Point today
a 10 year old child among them hit by a
ricochet people running through the mall trampling through the mall
like kids separated from their parents shootings in this city
have got to stop having six young people shot at
one time in one day is sickening
It's disgusting
Next thing you know all I heard was PP PPP
It's normal derm danger
Three people shot one victim has pronounced 10 people were
shot in just the last three days
About two shootings every single day heard the shooting and
saw a body on the ground
Same old same old over again
You talk to residents of shooting after shooting a 21
year old man shot to death on South Street in
Durham
Every time you turn on the news somebody shows they
murdered gun violence has become normal in Durham North Carolina
and people are fed up
It's horrible and I blame the government
I blame fines
I blame it all because y'all letting the gangs and
different ones take over the streets
It's about Durham it's about saving these kids getting these
people off the streets stopping this gun violence because it's
possible
Durham is a great place but Durham is a violent
place
People are targets shopping at the mall riding on the
school bus as a father is scary dying on their
way to get snow cones and that's where they were
heading to go get snow cones and never made it
I wrote it
Why are so many people shooting each other and what's
being done to stop it The WRL document was given
exclusive access to the Durham Police Department
We also have a daughter
So raising a child in Durham can be scary
It's frustrating as hell
We're about to do our next ride along
We're going to spend the evening with the gang unit
You guys ready ready What do you think any potential
solution might be So you asked a question
The police department cannot be the only entity
Address
We spend time with people living this
I've lost hope in public officials to solve this problem
and pushed politicians and policymakers to tell us what they're
doing to solve this
Do you think you personally have done enough No I
haven't done
What do you say to people who don't think you
should be meeting with gangs Tell them to give me
another solution if you want to be mayor run for
it and then do it yourself
Are you tough on violent crime
Of course I'm tough on violent crime
Why do so many people say that you're not you'd
have to ask those people do you think the D
A is being tough enough Absolutely not
Absolutely not enough is enough
It is
all right
This is Durham police chief Patrice Andrews
So we are starting patrol shift
It's not normal to see a police chief in a
department or city of this size on patrol
But these are not normal times in the bull city
gun violence and homicides are at an all time high
While police say staffing is at its lowest 50 people
were killed in Durham last year
The highest number since 1995 there have been more than
1100 shootings over the last year and a half
That's an average of two shootings every single day in
Durham
The Durham Police Department has 111 open spots out of
537 officer positions
That's a 20% vacancy rate
Andrews who became chief in November of 2021 is on
patrol to help staffing and morale
If officers don't feel like that they matter or they're
a part of something or they're seen they will leave
40 minutes into our ride along on a Monday afternoon
There was a shooting at a gas station in Durham
and what did it say It said it was one
person shot not sure how bad or where right now
went to the wood over here when we arrived on
scene Chief Andrews asked us to stay in the car
for safety reasons
The chief and the officer who we were with just
jumped out and then a fire truck came in
So it's kind of blocking our view
But we can see the chief interviewing people right now
trying to figure out what happened
I have a witness telling me that one of the
surveillance video shows a group arguing outside
A man pulls out a gun and shoots a teenager
But I hear BB like 8 to 10 shots that
he shot to that kid
The shock teenager runs inside for help
He says save me save me
Call the ambulance
The store owner was interviewed by another Wral crew
That day
The bullet went through my hand it grazed here it
went through jacket
The victim was taken to the hospital
He survived
They need to do more for the gun violence gun
control
These young kids should not have that big gun
That was tough
There is just no regard for life when the shots
were fired everyone scattered but there were people there that
had small Children just thinking that in broad daylight it's
117 and this happens
I sense just like a real frustration
It's frustrating
It's frustrating as hell
We asked a lot of people why gun violence is
so bad in Durham Most city leaders said the people
turning to guns have been left behind by society
So it is about the personal choices that people make
but it is also about the structural poverty
You shove them into public housing and then you turn
your backs on them
You created conditions that would lead to criminal behavior
What do you say to that I would say look
at Corporal Clark
You guys ready ready First and last name I'm Corporal
Jermaine Clark
We spent a shift with Corporal Clark on DPD S
gang unit
So growing up here in Durham growing up in inner
city housing this was always something I wanted to do
You know growing up I always interacted with the gang
unit the old cat team back in the day
So it was like I always wanted to be a
police officer
Why do you think you were drawn to police I
tell anybody you know your anchors whatever your anchors are
my anchors were both my mother and my father
But also I had like two other relatives that were
police officers as well
So even though you know I was growing up in
that type of environment I still had a different type
of reinforcement from a family center you know Gray House
Where are you guys at DPD Staffing shortages have impacted
the gang unit too
The 15 member squad is down six people
There is a tremendous amount of gang activity that takes
place in this city
Why is that This is really a society that we
live in now where even you know we're looking up
to the gang members you know the local you know
rap stars and stuff like that
Nobody's immune to it
Clark said there are gang members in Durham who are
legitimate rappers embraced by the community
They are helping to destroy
people like Antonio Davenport or little Tony police say Davenport
was a member of a rap group 83 babies who
signed a major contract with Atlantic Records
Federal court documents
State Davenport is also part of the Durham based eight
Trey gangster Crips and he sold drugs and committed fraud
to make money for the gang months after signing that
record deal
Police say Davenport shot at an SUV in Durham nine
year old Zion person was in that SUV on his
way to get a snow cone
He died from his injuries and Zia is supposed to
be going to the dentist the next morning
No he's laying in a morgue
Are you kidding me Sandra person is Zion's grandmother the
one that's getting ready to go to trial for my
grandson
He had already been in prison before of drugs and
guns and things of that sort
Ok You come out you have a second chance in
life
You would do
You was rapping you had just got a million dollar
record deal
Are you kidding me But my grandson is gone because
you wanna run around and be stupid when you had
a second chance in life to be someone
It's challenging at times they make multiple arrests
They get you know 15 to 20 guns seized in
a month which is pretty good and you still turn
around and there's still homicide after homicide shooting after shooting
it's challenging and sometimes the guns get away
So we'll try to catch up to this car
We saw as a member of the gang unit tried
to pull someone over
Basically he called out a chapter 20 violation which is
a motor vehicle offense but the driver kept going
So this is not going to stop for us
According to the Durham police department's chase policy because we
were in a neighborhood and the driver was not suspected
of a violent crime
Officers cannot pursue him
It's too dangerous
So that happens a lot
Um Unfortunately so what are reasons why cars don't stop
in there you know guns or narcotics or firearm DPD
just created a new team of eight officers dedicated to
getting guns off the street
But Chief Andrews doesn't know if she can make this
a permanent effort
I'm going to be very honest
I need to look at staffing police staffing issues are
happening everywhere
Police chiefs blame the great resignation and anger towards police
after the death of George Floyd in Durham giant yellow
letters that spelled out defund were in front of DPD
for 13 months
The letters are gone but many say the damage is
done especially to morale and DP DS recruiting efforts
Do you think your officers feel supported I think they
have a wait and see coming up if you're just
taking what other people say I don't think that is
any indication of what we're doing
I'm not that's why I looked at numbers
What are Durham officials doing to fight gun violence And
is anyone on the same page This was a child
nine years old an innocent child Zion person should have
turned 12 this year Zion was shot and killed on
his way to Pelicans
Snowballs in Durham
His grandmother Sandra person remembers rushing to the hospital that
night
I still see it to this day to this day
My baby laying in the bed with a hole in
his head lifeless and they even said he tried to
hang on
But if he had a if he is if he
would have made it he would have been a vegetable
you know so I guess God seemed fit for him
to take him home
So he won't be here you know liver like that
That was three years ago
Should Zion's death Should that have been the wake up
call for this city Was it No it's still happening
So what's your game plan to to stop it The
game plan on stopping gun violence in Durham really depends
on who you ask
Durham is a Mecca
It's now the start up capital of the south but
less than two miles from our city center
There are kids who jump in bathtubs at night when
it's not bath time because of gunfire
What is more important than our babies dying Mayor Pro
TEM Marc Anthony Middleton has been on Durham City Council
for five years
Some of the things I've pushed for have been mass
embrace
Some have been controversial from guaranteed income to expanding violence
interruption to shot spotter
Technology said the city also needs a strong police force
How important is morale when it comes to recruiting and
retaining police Absolutely critical
But Middleton was part of the council that allowed defund
to stay up in front of DPD for over a
year
I mean there are 111 openings
Are you worried The sentiment out there is Durham will
allow defund to be on the street for over a
year
The reason why I'm not worried is because every day
we're working on the situation we passed one of the
largest pay raises in the state 15% for our police
department
We are not defunding the police in Durham Elaine o'neill
was not mayor then but it bothered the former judge
and law school dean
I cannot imagine going to work and have defund the
judge or defund the dean and people not being hurt
by that and scarred by that
So that's all I'll say about that to be in
this space tonight
O'neill has been mayor of Durham for six months
She promised to make gun violence a top priority if
elected
I do believe that because of my unique position as
a judge and seeing it from that side I can
bring some insight to what I believe is an invisible
world to a lot of people
A lot of middle class people don't don't associate with
folk in gangs
Mayor o'neill has been meeting with gang members and trying
to work with them to stop the violence and retaliatory
shootings in Durham
You have gotten criticism for meeting with gangs developing a
relationship with them
What do you say to people who don't think you
should be doing that Tell them to give me another
solution
That's why they call it an election if you want
to be mayor run for it and then do it
yourself
Otherwise Elaine is gonna do what my experience and expertise
has taught me that I can do in my capacity
as mayor
They know what's going on in the streets
Ashley Kennedy is the president of macdougal Terrace resident Council
or the Mac A housing project in Durham
If you can work with them to try to stop
the next thing from happening
I think that's a good thing to me
Others worry
Some don't like it
You know some people say hey at least she's trying
our city and county leaders Mike Andrews was the sheriff
in Durham from 2012 to 2018
I don't want the mayor to send the wrong message
either because if she doesn't stop the violence you know
then it's it's gonna backfire
Should the mayor of a city be involved in secret
meetings Durham activists Paul Scott spoke out against the meetings
in a youtube video claiming they were done in secret
But no I have no problem with her talking to
anybody in the community
But I think that there needs to be transparency in
response to Scott's video
The mayor said she was trying to build trust before
talking publicly about the effort
The reformers let me see you turn around
She then introduced a group of men
She called the reformers at her state of the city
address in April
She has personally worked with them to intervene before shooting
or violence happens and they've been able to help us
to some of the vows
Now how did you weigh the pros with the cons
which could be legitimizing a group or or really giving
a group responsible for violence even more power That's a
good question
And then I think about the bodies of those who
lie in the streets you know and they all look
pretty much in Durham one way
So you're asking me as a black mother of black
sons
What choice do I make Do I try to engage
with them or do I turn away from them because
of what other people think On one hand you have
a message coming from part of their leadership saying understand
the gangs work with the gangs
But at the same time you have the law enforcement
side saying report on the gangs snitch on the gangs
So which one is it Which one do you want
us to do if it does not stop Um then
I uh I feel she'll lose a lot of credibility
and I think I think the world of of me
o'neil
I do I I want her to be successful
What do they need to be doing It wouldn't be
the most politically correct thing to do today
There needs to be a message sent
Ok we're gonna start rounding up some of these violent
offenders and we're gonna bring them and arrest them and
bring them to jail
They need to take the Federal court in Greensboro because
the bonding system here that as soon as an individual
is arrested they're released back right back on the street
is a revolving door
We heard that complaint a lot over the past few
weeks
As fast as they're getting locked up the people are
back out on the street five minutes before the police
finish the paperwork
You go out here today and you arrest the guy
and sometimes that same guy will turn around in a
couple of weeks or a couple of months and commit
a violent crime you know and it's like hey well
we just arrested him
Do you think the D A is being tough enough
on
Absolutely not
Absolutely not
There's got to be violence
If prosecuting violent crime made us safe we would be
the safest country in the world
We cannot prosecute our way out of this district attorney
Satana D Barry in office since 2019 ran on a
progressive platform
She vowed to do things differently than her predecessors
The low level things the things that we think have
led to mass incarceration in the United States right The
thing that destabilizes communities the over prosecution of black and
brown people the things that really we think got us
where we are now we put more thought into diverting
those things from court D Barry has stopped seeking cash
bail in most cases and wiped the records for hundreds
of juveniles charged as adults
She said being focused on reform doesn't mean she's not
interested in justice
What I've said is that I believe we can have
reform and public safety
And so yes I think that is what's happening in
Durham now
Are you tough on violent crime Of course I'm tough
on violent crime
Do you believe your record reflects that Absolutely
Although her record is tough to gauge we looked at
all superior court felony convictions in Durham for the past
five years
This is public data available through the administrative office of
the courts or ac these are people convicted as charged
Plea deals are not included in these numbers because we
wanted to focus on only those who pay the full
price of the crime
They were accused of committing the data shows the felony
conviction rate in Durham in 2016 was 51% close to
the state average at the time of 48% under D
Barry the conviction rate fell to 33%
That's 15% behind the state average
I asked D Barry about the data we pulled
So I I looked at numbers ahead of this interview
You had a felony conviction rate last year of 33%
Why Why is that number I have no I don't
know what those numbers mean
I haven't
Uh Where did you get those from From the A
OC From the A OC Yeah
You know you could you should go to Sarah for
some numbers that actually reflect what we do every day
day to day
Um Because the A OC numbers are notoriously bad about
predicting what we do
So what are your numbers What is your felony conviction
rate I don't know
You'd have to right now
We'd have to get those from our data folks but
we don't prioritize conviction rates
What we prioritize is working on the most serious and
violent crime
However the court data doesn't show that either since taking
office
Durham's conviction rate for first degree murder charges is 24
percent compare that to 67% in Wade County and 45%
statewide
Sarah Willett de Barry's Press person told after the interview
looking only at felony conviction rates and not plea deals
or deferrals represents a small number of cases
Bottom line dry said conviction rates are not their top
concern
We don't lean on really what we think are outdated
modes of determining how well prosecution works
But do you have a method is what I'm asking
if this is outdated Then what do you use You
have to have a system
Uh We have a we have we do have numbers
that we collect but we also are looking at individual
cases and the outcomes of those individual cases and whether
or not those individual cases provide accountability in that particular
case
OK
I guess what I'm getting at is we've interviewed a
lot of people for this documentary and it comes as
no surprise to you
Um You hear it all the time I've read interviews
You've done people say you are not tough on violent
crime they say it all the time
So other than saying yes I am how are you
proving that to the community Well I think we're proving
it by the to the community by our outcomes in
these individual cases
I don't think that there's any indication that we haven't
done a good job
D Barry who won the May primary with 80% of
the vote and is running unopposed in November said what's
happening in Durham is not unique
Violent crime is up nationwide and so this idea that
Durham is exceptionally violent is simply not true
We're talking about darn where my grandson was shot and
killed three years ago almost
They need to figure out a way of getting the
community back coming up
Where do we go from here Durham is going through
some tough times right now but these things are not
what defines Durham
Chief Andrews said there are people working every day to
change things in Durham
Love Ashley Kennedy right there
She is wonderful and she lives over here in in
mcdougal community
Kennedy lives at the mat and lives with gun violence
One of her four kids has PTSD from hearing gunshots
I know what I'm doing to contribute to Durham
Ok
So in your journal she runs a food pantry and
an after school program for young people
Like I see a lot of potential in these guys
and girls out here in Madu
But there's potential in Durham
We just gotta pull it out of them
We provide young people with opportunities to do something different
with their lives
They will not pick up a gun and we see
that with the reformers and others out there who want
to do life a different way without using a gun
as a employment tool
There are soup kitchens there are pantries there are tutoring
programs going on in church basements
Many of them are underfunded understaffed but they keep working
Those are the type of things we need to be
looking to lift up and fund
Not just one you have the community aspect the police
aspect even all the way up to the District Attorney's
office we all have to get back on the same
page
We all as a community are responsible for the structural
and systemic issues that lead to violent crime
And until we acknowledge that and stop trying to point
fingers at each other about whose responsibility it is
We won't get good outcomes
It's so so hard
Meanwhile families are left broken wondering when this gun violence
will end and if the officials working on it are
truly working together
I mean y'all have to find the time to sit
down and come up with a plan and I'm not
trying to hear uh uh we don't have the funds
find them
I mean you have to find a way
Zing person the efficacy of this government the greatness of
our city will be measured by whether or not Zion
can go get an ice cream