Durham’s city promoters for years have bemoaned the “biased” view other people in North Carolina have of their fair city, but reality continues to intrude. Here’s the latest:
A Durham Sheriff’s Office vice squad officer and a suspect the Sheriff’s Anti-Crime Narcotics Unit was attempting to arrest were wounded in an exchange of gunfire Wednesday night outside the Cracker Barrel restaurant at 3703 Hillsborough Road.
The wounds were described as non-life-threatening. The victims were both taken by ambulance to Duke University Hospital where they were being treated on Wednesday night.
The restaurant is located just off Interstate 85. The gunfire broke out in the restaurant’s parking lot between the restaurant and a neighboring Quality Inn.
Note to law-abiding citizens: This occurred at 7:30 p.m., when normal people think it’s safe to be out and about. Until the city’s leaders — mayor, council members, judges, magistrates, DAs, and police leadership — get serious about crime, it’s not going to get any better.
Recently I attended a meeting of Trinity Park residents concerned about several muggings and shootings in our neighborhood. A representative of the police department essentially told us all not to go out much, and an assistant chief told us we need to understand how these criminal youths grew up. No one there, including two city councilmen, said what they were going to do to improve the situation. They just advised us to assume a bunker mentality and stay out of dangerous places, like our neighborhood.
