Chief: Durham Police fatally shot man assaulting shop clerk

Durham Police say officers shot and killed a person who was attacking a Circle K store employee early Wednesday morning.

At around 3am, officers responded to a reported suicide in progress at the NC 54 convenience store in south Durham, Chief Constable Patrice Andrews told a news conference.

Officers were told a man was cutting himself inside the store, according to a press release from the Durham Police Department.

The front door was locked. Officers forced their way inside and “observed an assailant violently assault the store employee with a sharp object,” Andrews said.

Officers fired shots that fatally hit the attacker, she said.

The store employee was seriously injured and taken to hospital. The officers were lightly injured and treated at the scene.

The State Bureau of Investigations will investigate the case, while the Durham Police Department will conduct an internal investigation, which is standard procedure when officers shoot someone.

The officers have been placed on administrative leave while investigations are ongoing, which is also protocol.

“We don’t know how many shots were fired. We don’t know where the assailant was hit,” Andrews said. “We also don’t have any information on the whole incident at this stage.”

3rd law enforcement shooting

This was the third shooting by law enforcement officers in Triangle this month.

Less than 24 hours earlier, a Raleigh police officer shot and killed a man after an accident on Interstate 440. Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said the man, whom she did not identify , had hit police officers with a knife.

She declined to provide her condition at a press conference on Tuesday.

And last week, Durham County Sheriff’s Office deputies fatally shot a 28-year-old woman in Bahama, in the north of the county.

The office said they were responding to a disturbance call and the woman pointed a shotgun at them despite multiple attempts to get her to put it down.

The SBI is investigating both cases.

This story was originally published January 12, 2022 07:57.