Police take hiding suspect from apartment attic

Durham, N.C. — Durham police arrested a fugitive Thursday after he hid in the attic of an apartment building at 1014 Sherwood Drive and ignored their orders to surrender for nearly three hours.

Officers went to the apartment to serve warrants on Marcus D. Shareef, 20, of Raynor Street, around 2:15 p.m., police spokeswoman Kammie Michaels said. Shareef ran from officers and hid in an attic above apartments in the two-story building.

Officers tried to get Shareef to come out, but he refused. Police, firefighters and EMS workers and helped evacuate the building.

Members of the police department's Selective Enforcement Team – similar to a SWAT team – called a Fire Department truck to help them reach the top of the building from outside and fired teargas into the attic space.

Team members then entered the building and arrested Shareef without incident. He was being held in the Durham County Jail under a $55,000 bond.

No one was hurt during the standoff, Michaels said.

Shareef was wanted in a home break-in and car theft on Morreene Road in December. A computer monitor, two iPods, video games, stereo equipment and an HD projector were stolen during the break-in.

On Friday, he was charged with seven counts each of breaking and entering and larceny and one count of attempted breaking and entering. The charges stem from six burglaries on Campus Walk and one on Louise Circle that occurred between Nov. 7 and Jan. 23, police said.

Shareef was convicted of a string of five break-ins in Durham County in 2004, according to state Department of Correction records. His convictions were upgraded to felonies after he was caught carrying a firearm in September 2005, five months after he was initially sentenced to probation for misdemeanors.

Shareef served 2½ years in prison, with a lengthened sentence after a conviction for assault on a state employee in June 2007.

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