Authorities: Durham police involved in fatal shooting

Officers were dispatched to Bevel Court, near Carpenter Road, in response to a physical, domestic fight between a man and a woman shortly after 5 a.m.

Ondrae Levado Hutchinson, 30, was combative when officers arrived, police said, and an officer shot him during a struggle.

Officers tried to save Hutchinson, who died at the hospital, police said.

“We would like to express condolences to everyone involved in this unfortunate situation," Police Chief C.J. Davis said in the statement. "We are always saddened by any loss of life."

Officers R.E. Jimenez, J.W. Lanier, E.I. Masnik and B.L. Mouzon have been placed on administrative leave with pay as the State Bureau of Investigation and the police department investigate the incident.

Jimenez joined the department in February 2015, Masnik in June 2017, Lanier in June 2018 and Mouzon in July 2018. All four officers are assigned to the Patrol Bureau.

Residents said they live in the neighborhood because incidents like this don't usually happen.

"It was shocking to me; it really was," said Twanna Warren, who lives behind the house that police surrounded in yellow tape.

She said she has only good things to say about the people who live around her.

“They are close and they communicate a lot, but as far as the neighbors, no problem,” she said.

Police said a five-day report on the shooting will be released next week.

According to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, more officers were shot and killed responding to domestic violence calls in 2017 than during any other type of call.

Groups who work with domestic violence victims say these calls are dangerous for everyone, including police.

"I think they're extremely dangerous mostly because the scene is so unpredictable. Oftentimes officers don't know what type of situation they're walking into," said Tanisha Towe, an advocate with the Durham Crisis Response Center.

Towe says calls like the one on Bevel Court can quickly turn deadly.

"It's saddening, it's baffling, it adds more confusion to the community at large in wondering what in the world can we do," she said.

Officers receive training on how to handle domestic violence calls but even so, the emotions surrounding the situation can make things escalate quickly.

"I'm a great supporter of law enforcement because that is an extremely difficult job that they have," Towe said. "I just hope that the officer that was involved can know and feel and believe that his responses to whatever was going on in that situation was clear. I'm sure he handled it to the best of his ability. I hope so."

InterAct, an organization that works to end the cycle of domestic and sexual violence in Wake County, uses what's called a lethality assessment profile - 11 questions they ask the domestic violence victim to see if the abuser might use deadly force against that person or someone else. They have trained 5 local law enforcement agencies and 300 medical personnel at WakeMed to use this to try and be proactive about these cases.