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Man Hurt in Durham Shooting: Witnesses Describe Burst of Gunshots

Posted on: Saturday, 8 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Stanley B. Chambers Jr., The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Apr. 8--Police are investigating a Friday afternoon shooting that left a man wounded. Authorities and witnesses think more than 15 shots were fired.

A man thought to be in his early 20s was found shot beside 7 Atka Court in eastern Durham about 1:50 p.m., said Durham police Detective N. Cloninger. The victim was taken to Duke Hospital. No information about his condition was released.

Investigators spent most of the afternoon combing through a grassy area surrounded by yellow police tape that flapped in the wind. The man was found between buildings 3 and 8. A pair of black pants and a red and gray shirt lay on the ground where the victim was found.

Sherri Enoch thinks the victim knocked on her apartment before he was shot.

Enoch, 43, heard banging on her door about 1:30 p.m., but no one was there when she answered. About two minutes later, she said, she heard six to seven gunshots. Enoch looked outside about five minutes later and saw police cars across the street.

"I could have saved his life," said Enoch, who has lived in the area for three months. "I could've opened the door and called police. All these kids killing each other, it's awful."

Gunshots are heard daily in the apartment complex, said Christina Davis, who lives near where the victim was found. About five men who were sitting in the area quickly dispersed when shots were fired, she said. Davis, 23, dialed 911 after rushing her 3-year-old son and another child into her apartment.

Davis compared the gunshots she heard to the sound of a firecracker, but 50 times louder.

Children often play outside in the area where the shooting occurred. A school bus dropped off a student at Rochelle Street and Atka Court as police questioned witnesses. A small knife was found in front of building 3.

"It's an everyday thing," Davis said. "Just so happened someone caught a bullet today."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The News & Observer

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