Durham Officer Shoots Man In Standoff

Police were dispatched to a trespassing call at 1:45 a.m. at Morreene West Apartments, where Arvie Lee Fudge III, 25, of Salisbury, allegedly fired several shots and then fled in a vehicle, the police said.

Elizah Barnes said he saw the scene unfold from his apartment window as an argument began between two men in the parking lot.

"The guy took off running; then the brother just opened fire at him," Barnes said.

Durham's deputy police chief, Ron Hodge, said that when police arrived, the gunman drove off. There was a brief road chase that ended back at the apartment complex.

Authorities followed the vehicle down U.S. Highway 15-501 and back to the apartment complex. Police said Fudge then pointed a gun at his head and refused to get out of the car. Police evacuated some of the buildings in the complex.

Police negotiators and the Selective Enforcement Team were called to the scene. After negotiations broke down, SET officers used tear gas to get Fudge to leave his vehicle.

SET officers then tried to approach the vehicle. According to a preliminary investigation, Fudge raised his gun and a SET officer fired a shot.

Fudge was taken to Duke University Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

"The situation was one in which deadly force was imminent, and the officer's actions were justified," Hodge said.

Although Hodge said the use of deadly force was justified, an investigation by both the Department's Professional Standards Division and the State Bureau of Investigation is under way -- a standard procedure when an officer is involved in a shooting.

Police said the officer's name would not be released until Monday.

Friday morning's shooting is not the first officer involved in a shooting in Durham this year. In January, a policeman shot at a suspect who stole a police car and led officers on a chase down the Durham Freeway. In Feburary, an officer shot and wounded a suspect who refused to drop two guns.