Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

Login Options

7:33 p.m. • 2-10-12

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Sat: Mostly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 52° F
  • Sun: Clear.
    • Hi: 43° F
  • Mon: Mostly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 50° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Marketplace Links

Social Links

Main Menu

Man shot by Durham officer dies


e-mail print friendly
Officer-involved shooting in Durham
Officer-involved shooting in Durham

A man shot early Thursday by a Durham police officer died about 14 hours after the confrontation.

Police hadn't determined the man's identity before he died at Duke University Hospital Thursday afternoon.

Police responded to a "disturbance with a weapon" call at about 2 a.m. at an apartment complex at 1700 Hillcrest Drive after several people called 911 and reported hearing shots.

An officer patrolling nearby radioed that he heard eight to nine shots and asked for backup, police said.

Officers J.R. Broadwell and F.R. Cook went to the back side of the apartment complex on Sedgefield Street and saw a man armed with a gun come around the side of the building, police said.

"The man pointed a gun at Officer Broadwell, according to a preliminary investigation, and Officer Broadwell shot him when he failed to drop the gun," Police Chief Jose Lopez said.

Steven Capraun, who lives in the neighborhood, said he was awakened by the sound of gunfire.

"It was like boom, boom, boom, like that," Capraun said. "I knew what it was. I hear (gunshots) all the time."

Police have responded to at least eight calls in the area involving guns or gunfire, as well as one shooting, in the last year.

Lopez said the investigation hasn't found that Broadwell, who's been with the Durham Police Department for 10 years, did anything wrong.

"I've seen nothing, at this point, that would indicate anything different," he said.

State Bureau of Investigation agents and the police department’s Professional Standards Division are investigating the shooting. SBI involvement is standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting.

Broadwell and Cook were placed on administrative duty with pay, pending the results of the SBI investigation. Such moves are standard procedure.

Lopez said the Broadwell and Cook were trying to process what happened in the incident.

"It's a situation where these officers are placed in life-threatening situations. They have to take actions that are going to impact them no matter what action they take," he said.


View Larger Map

RELATED TOPICS: Durham, Duke University

e-mail print friendly

36 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments VIEW ALL 36 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments.

Latest Comments
oops

What a stupid headline. WRAL needs to leave their anti-police attitude at the door.

"As well as he realizes he did what he had to, .....he'll live with a scar from which the pain never completely subsides. The support and respect from the people he protects will help more than anything." - Rob --- No truer words spoken on this blog!

Chances are the officer prevented future murders; something our court system cares nothing about.

As well as he realizes he did what he had to, and as much as he's trained to maintain his composure, as good as his counselers are, etc, he'll live with a scar from which the pain never completely subsides. The support and respect from the people he protects will help more than anything.

Thank you, WRAL, for changing the slang word cop to officer in the new headline. In such a serious news report it is certainly more appropriate and most likely would have gotten just as much readership if you had used "officer" the first go round, without the negative connotation.

View Comments VIEW ALL 36 COMMENTS
Report It

Multimedia

Click Here