Durham's ongoing struggle: 'Every day, somebody is getting shot'

In 2016, 42 people were shot and killed in Durham, the most since the FBI started keeping track in 1995.

Shooting deaths in the city are up 43 percent from a year ago, when 21 had been recorded through mid-September.

Surprisingly, however, overall shootings are down from 2020. Through last weekend, 565 shootings had been reported in Durham, down from 665 in the same period a year ago.

But shootings continue. Durham police said 35 people have been shot in the last month. Three people were shot on Tuesday alone, and a woman driving on Morehead Avenue on Wednesday afternoon was wounded when someone shot at her car, police said.

Drive-by shootings a common occurrence for some Durham residents

"Every day, [there's] gun violence. Every day, somebody is getting shot,” said Azad Suruz, who owns a BP gas station and Family Fare convenience store in the 3000 block of Fayetteville Street.

Two people engaged in a gun battle at Suruz's business on Aug. 26 – one used an assault rifle – forcing employees and customers to dive for cover.

"My wife is scared. My son told me not to go to the store at night. My kids are scared. But what can I do?” he said. “It’s very upsetting because, at this moment, it’s hard to find people to work. We are struggling.”

City Councilman Mark-Anthony Middleton said gun violence needs to be addressed as a state of emergency.

"There are certain neighborhoods in this city where I know for a fact, if they were hearing gunfire every night, it would be all hands on deck. There would be no tool we would not employ," Middleton said.

Shooting near youth baseball games increases concerns over gun violence in Durham

Durham needs to spend money to address the root causes of gun violence, such as poverty, unemployment and lack of education, he said. On top of providing more programs and resources for youths, the city needs to look at a mega-sized investment to stabilize communities disproportionately affected by the shootings, he said.

"I don’t think we have done everything we can. We have certainly done some things, but I think it’s going to take a much more concerted, intense effort to address this issue."

"The problem is education. Those kids have no control of themselves. They just use [guns] for anything,” Suruz said. "I don’t think they care about human life. When someone walks around with that big rifle at that age, that’s sad. They don’t care about the value of their life."

Durham is the final stages of selecting its next police chief. City officials plan to announce a candidate sometime this month, and that person is slated to start sometime in November.