16-year-old killed in Durham, his twin shot days earlier, mother said

The mother of a 16-year-old killed Thursday tells WRAL News two of her sons were shot within days of each other.

Latoya Edwards said her son, Cassidy Johnson, was shot and killed around 4 p.m. Thursday in the 1200 block of Truman Street.

His twin brother was shot in the leg on the same street last week and is recovering.

Latoya Edwards said this was the second time Cassidy has been shot.

"He was good," Edwards said. "He was a good son. He was a good brother to his brother."

According to police, CPR was administered at the scene, but Cassidy died later at a nearby hospital.

Police said, a few moments after Cassidy was shot, a man was seen running from the scene with a handgun. The man left the scene in a stolen Red Chrysler Sebring, which was later seized by police.

Edwards has four sons, including the twin 16-year-old boys. She has lived at McDougald Terrace in Durham for a little more than a year.

Edwards told WRAL News a man fired shots Thursday afternoon, and her son Cassidy was hit while running away.

"My baby was shot in the chest," Edwards said. "They had to open my baby up to jump start his heart ... they cut up my baby."

Edwards said Cassidy was a smart and respectful ninth-grade student at Hillside High School.

"I shouldn't have to bury my son," she said.

Cassidy was one of five people shot Thursday in Durham.

Durham Police Chief Patrice Andrews became emotional in a Friday morning news conference to address the violence.

"I am sad," she said. "I am very angry. The are a lot of questions that I have about where have we gone wrong, either as parents, as guardians, in what we do, in what our community has or has not done to support these individuals."

Mayor Leonardo Williams also spoke, saying, to him, Cassidy's death is personal.

"The commonality here is that these are all mostly young Black boys under the age of 20 ... both the victims of the actual act and the ones that are committing it ... for me, this isn't political ... this is a personal reality that really frustrates me," Williams said.

Cassidy wasn't the only young person shot on Thursday. Three people, including a minor, arrived at a local hospital with gunshot wounds related to an incident on Fayetteville Street and Linwood Avenue. All had non life-threatening injuries.

Javonnte Patterson, 31, has been charged with possession of a firearm by felon in connection with the Fayetteville Street shooting.

A third shooting occurred around 6 p.m. Thursday near the American Tobacco Campus.

Police said a man suffering from a gunshot wound arrived at a nearby bus terminal. He was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Anyone with information about the shootings is urged to contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 919-683-1200.