Police, Residents Go Door-to-Door for Tips in Fatal Shootings

The Durham Police Department and city volunteers canvass June 29 for tips in two fatal shootings. Photo by Leanora Minai.

After two fatal shootings within two weeks of each other in June, officers from the city of Durham Police Department and resident volunteers set out on foot to canvass the two neighborhoods where the homicides occurred. The goal: offer support to the community. The hope: get information, make arrests.

The response was organized by the city's Project Safe Neighborhoods, which combats gun and gang crime through outreach and various programs.

As part of the neighborhood canvasses on June 29, police officers and volunteers visited the 1300 block of Juniper Street, the location of a fatal shooting on June 12. In that case, when officers arrived on scene, they discovered Javier Arreola Rodriguez, 40, shot in the parking lot. He died a short time later at Duke University Hospital.

The second canvass brought police and residents to the area surrouding 1214 Hearthside St, where on June 24, at about 10:30 p.m., three men were shot inside an apartment. "Investigators believe that one or more suspects entered the apartment, shot the victims and fled," according to a flier. Two of the men lived, but Cesar Nava Fuentes, 28, died.

Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call Durham CrimeStoppers at (919) 683-1200.