A 16-year-old is recovering from surgery after being shot by a Durham police officer early Sunday morning in the Food Lion parking lot on Hope Valley Road, according to the teen's family.
Two family members, including his father and uncle, said 16-year-old Joshua García was shot by police. They said he has already undergone surgery, and they are grateful he is alive.
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Police were initially called to Hope Valley Road for reports of "car club" racing in the area just after midnight in the parking lot of the Woodcroft Shopping Center.
Jamie Gueta said a police officer shot his nephew, Garcia. Gueta said his nephew was running away from police when an officer shot him in the back. This has not been confirmed by police.
Police confirmed that a 16-year-old suspect was shot twice. They said, after the teenager was shot, he dropped a handgun and continued to run away. The gun was recovered at the scene.
The officer who shot the teen has been identified as Corporal R. McQueen, who has been employed by the Durham Police Department (DPD) since 2006 and is currently assigned to Uniform Patrol Bureau. The DPD said McQueen was wearing a bodycam, which was activated during the foot chase and shooting.
McQueen was placed on administrative leave, which is standard in shootings involving law enforcement.
McQueen has been recognized by the police department on several occasions. In one instance, the officer helped save the life of someone who nearly died by suicide.
When the officer first arrived at the scene, police said objects were thrown at the officer's vehicle.
"When the initial officer arrived on scene, to disperse the cars and the crowd, objects were thrown at the officer when he was in his vehicle," Durham Chief of Police Patrice Andrews said.
She said the officer confronted the person who then began to run away. A brief chase played out in the Food Lion parking lot. That’s when Andrews said the suspect pulled out a handgun and refused to drop it.
According to police, after repeated calls to drop the gun, the officer shot the teen.
Broadcastify radio traffic revealed that the first report of shots fired came in just 10 minutes after police arrived on scene.
"The suspect at some point raised the handgun and was then shot by the officer," Andrews said.
Police said the teen dropped the handgun, which has been recovered by police, and ran away.
The teen then got into a car with several other people and drove off, according to police. Another officer stopped the car based on its description and provided aid until an ambulance was able to take the suspect to the hospital.
A juvenile petition has been filed by the DPD to charge the teen with the following crimes:
- Assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer
- Possession of a handgun by a minor
- Resist, delay, obstruct a public officer
"We feel like we need to have more information about it," Gueta said. "We need to know what happened. Police officers need to talk to my sister [and] to us."
The SBI is investigating the shooting, and the officer involved is on administrative duty; this is standard procedure when something like this happens. We expect the SBI's 5-day report about the shooting to be released on Friday.
'I was completely shocked'
Alexander Harris lives nearby and heard the police response.
"I was completely shocked," Harris said. "I honestly thought it was something to do with the high school football game or something like that. That's the only kind of noise you hear around this area."
He said he heard sirens and saw several police cars flying down the road.
"I saw least five, but it sounded like 20 to 40 ... like it was a lot," he said.
This situation has some like Harris concerned about the popularity of unsanctioned car events getting closer to their communities.
"It shouldn't really be something that's too close to a neighborhood," he said. "Because car shows, meet ups and races are always something extremely loud and dangerous, so that being close to residential areas is something that shouldn't be a thing."
Durham’s police chief said more information will be released about the suspect and officer involved on Monday.