Durham mayor sounds the alarm about ‘out of control’ youth violence

Durham — Seven people have been shot in the last seven days in Durham.

Three of those seven were younger than  the age of 18. In total, 22 people have been shot in Durham this year.

While the 2025 crime report, set to be presented to the Durham City Council at Thursday’s work session, shows overall crime is down in 2025 compared to 2024, it has been a violent week.

Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams told WRAL News he is putting plans in action this week to address the issue.

“I am working on pulling together an emergency task force that can help mitigate the engagement of non-profits in our community,” Williams said. “Crime is overall going down, I want to highlight that, but our youth violence is out of control."

One-on-one interview: Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams: Crime is decreasing, but city's youth violence is 'out of control'

Williams argued the priority for everyone, including elected officials and community members, should be the issue of crime.

“We have fare free busing. We have HEART. We have our CIP. we have Vision Zero for transit; why can't we have a Vision Zero for our youth from killing each other? Why can't we have more youth centers downtown?" Williams said. “If we're going to shoot down anything that involves the police, we're not going to keep people safe."

Williams said community members who want to be involved to attend community sessions for the joint City County Comprehensive Violence Reduction Plan. He also encouraged people already working with youth to keep up their endeavors.

“If you have an idea, go do it. Don't come to the city for funding yet, because we operate on a fiscal year. I say to our corporate community, find a non-profit and invest in them,” Williams said.

Williams pointed to the Bull City Future Fund as another way to get involved.

Durham has employed various crime reduction technologies and initiatives in recent years. However, many have been removed.

WRAL News asked Williams if he believed programs like the gunfire detection system ShotSpotter, or the discontinued anti-violence program Bull City United should return as possible solutions outlined in the recent City-County Plan. In February, the city council also opted not to move forward with the proposed Real Time Crime Center.  

“I do think they [the programs] should come back, but we're going to have to let the data tell us that,” Williams said. "What resources we have are going to be data led." 

When it comes to that long-term plan, the next community session you can participate in is virtual, on Feb. 24. There are two more in-person meetings scheduled for March 13 and March 20.