Durham officers heard shot fired before fatal police-involved shooting, report says

The City of Durham released the report which detailed parts of a confrontation that led to the fatal shooting. The release of the report, known as the "five-day" report, comes a week after Frank Nathaniel Clark, of Durham, was shot and killed during a struggle with three officers.

According to the report, Master Officer C.S. Barkley, officer M.D. Southerland and officer C.Q. Goss, members of the Violent Incident Response Team, were patrolling in the area of Wabash and Dayton streets around 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 22. All three officers were in uniform.

Southerland saw a man near Building 60 and got out of his patrol car to speak with him, the report said. Barkley then pulled up, and he and Southerland started talking to the man. During the conversation, the man, later identified as Clark, reached for his waistband and a struggle ensued.

During the struggle, the officers heard a shot. Southerland fell to the ground, and Barkley fired his duty weapon in response, the report said.

Goss immediately radioed for help, and two additional officers arrived on scene and performed CPR on Clark. Clark was pronounced dead at the scene. Southerland was taken to the hospital by ambulance for treatment of his injured leg.

The release of the report could help answer some questions from community members about the circumstances that led to Clark's death. Several neighbors who live in McDougald Terrace and said they witnessed the shooting have questioned DPD's version of events.

A neighbor who spoke with WRAL News said Clark did not reach for a weapon.

"As he was about to turn around, they held him; they held him, a gun went off," a witness said. "He didn't shoot no gun. If he did have a gun, he didn't shoot it."

According to the report, a loaded Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun was found lying on the ground next to Clark. The gun had been reported stolen in January in Durham. During treatment from EMS, a white rock-like substance wrapped in a plastic bag fell out of Clark’s pants. The substance, all involved handguns and additional evidence were collected and given to the State Bureau of Investigation.

The three officers were placed on administrative assignment, and the SBI will investigate the shooting, standard procedure after an officer fires a weapon in the line of duty.

Barkley joined the Durham Police Department in 1997. Southerland joined the DPD in 2006, and officer Goss joined in 2005.