Man shot while doing yard work in Durham 'lucky to be alive'

Investigators said Kenneth Harris had been using a weed eater in his front yard in the 2100 block of Faucette Avenue around 3 p.m. Tuesday, when he was shot in the arm and side as bullets rang out from a passing white Fork work van.

"He shot about six times, and the bullet hit me," Harris said. 

The shots, investigators said, were intended for a young boy who got off a school bus and walked in front of Harris' house.

"I thought they had killed that little boy," Harris said, adding he didn't realize he had been shot. "While I was running to call 911, I felt a sting.

"Then I looked down, and I was bleeding myself," he said. 

On Wednesday, police arrested 17-year-old Nelson Pinto, of 1921 Faucette Ave., in connection with the shooting. Harris said Pinto lived just down the street in the ordinarily quiet neighborhood.

"You just don't ever know where trouble is at," he said.

Pinto was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm within the city limits and placed in the Durham County jail under a $250,000 bond.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Durham Police Department at 919-560-4281, extension 29122, or Crime Stoppers at 919-683-1200.

Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to arrests in felony cases, and callers never have to identify themselves.