Durham Homicide Nearly Double In 2015

After seeing 22 homicides in 2014, the city of Durham saw that number increase to 42 in 2015.

Marcia Owen, director of the Religious Coalition for a Non-Violent Durham, said 73 percent of homicides in Durham were committed with a firearm.

“The majority of people dying are dying from gunshot wounds,” she said. “I think it would behoove us to look carefully at how we are storing weapons, carrying weapons and using weapons because obviously guns are not protecting us and they’re not serving us.”

Owen said 91 percent of female victims in Durham knew their assailant. That number falls to 68 percent for male victims.

“Much of the violence, I would suspect, is common conflict, but with the presence of a gun,” she said. “A gun is so beautifully capable of inflicting such severe bodily trauma, hence the deaths and injuries.

Of the 42 homicides in 2015, four were in self defense, one was an officer-involved shooting and 16 investigations remain open, according to the Durham Police Department.

“If we’re not making arrests, that means we have people who are capable of murder in our community,” Owen said. “Not very many people are capable of murder.”

As a response to this violence, the coalition was started in 1992. They hold vigils for victims and offer hospitality to those coming home from prison.

“We also have a community lunch that we’ve been doing since 1992 to bring people of faith and goodwill together to share the goodness of this community,” Owen said.

The Durham homicide unit is currently asking for information on 27 unsolved homicide cases dating back to 1989. To see these cases click here.

For more information on the coalition, you can email nonviolentdurham@gmail.com.

Durham Homicide Nearly Double In 2015

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