Durham police warn: Shots fired, even to celebrate, are a crime
Family members said the 73-year-old Durham woman killed by celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve's was a great-grandmother with a heart of gold.
Delores Burwell, whose identity was released by police on Monday, died over the weekend when someone fired a gun into the air.
Burwell's relatives said while it's too soon to talk about their loss, they shared photos with WRAL News in her memory.
“What a heartbreaking way to start a new year,” said Durham City Mayor Pro Tempore Mark-Anthony Middleton.
"I can’t think of anything more irresponsible or stupid than to fire bullets into the air to celebrate something," added Middleton. "'Celebratory gunfire' is really a problematic phrase for me because whatever you’re celebrating the worst way to ruin it is to just start indiscriminately shooting into the air."
Neighbors, including Odell Lyons, said they saw Burwell visiting her friends on Robinhood Road for the holiday before the shooting.
“It’s kind of rough, you know. People don’t care; a bullet has no name on it,” said Lyons.
Just before 11 p.m., a stray bullet falling from the sky hit Burwell, according to neighbors.
The celebratory gunfire death is the second deadly incident of its kind within the last two. In 2020, a bullet fell from the sky on Fourth of July killing 74-year-old Paulette Thorpe, a Durham grandmother.
Lawmakers said the consequences surrounding celebratory gunfire "vary and it varies on circumstances."
"Are they intoxicated? How many times [did] they shoot? What is the danger of a crowd around?" Durham State House Representative Marcia Morey said about some of the circumstances.
Morey added that any charge can be as minor as a misdemeanor or as serious as a felony.
“I was a former judge, and we had several of these cases. If no one is hurt, it could be as small as a (violation of a) city ordinance -- charges filed against someone for shooting into the air with no damage. If there is a death it could be involuntary manslaughter,” she said.
Durham wasn't the only city dealing with celebratory gunfire over the holiday weekend.
WRAL Data Trackers found that Raleigh also had a number of celebratory gunfire incidents, including 11 calls made to police to report shots fired between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. on the mornings of Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 and Jan. 2.
Durham city leaders said the more serious offenses from celebratory gunfire cases are rare due to difficulty in tracking down the shooter. That’s one of the reasons why Middleton said it’s critical Durham compensate and retain more police officers to solve more serious crimes.
“We need to deal with those staffing issues to investigate issues like this [and] to have the person power and the patrol power to deal with these issues,” said Middleton.
At the state level, Morey said she believes there is always room for tougher legislation on these laws.
"It happened July 4 in Durham [and] it happened last year in Raleigh — a woman was hit with celebratory gunfire. Now, a tragic death here in Durham ... it's anything but celebratory. It's a serious action, and it needs to face consequences," said Morey.
Durham police is still looking for the person who fired the shot that killed Burwell. Anyone with information is asked to call Investigator Bongarten at 919-560-4440, ext. 29529 or Crime Stoppers at 919-683-1200.
