A woman who was found wounded in the same vehicle was expected to survive, police said.
DURHAM, N.C. — Durham police are investigating a late-night shooting on North Roxboro Street that left two men dead and a woman injured after officers found all three victims inside a vehicle near Old Oxford Road around midnight Friday.
The shooting added to a tense stretch of violence in Durham and came as city leaders were publicly talking about ways to slow gun crime. Investigators had not identified a suspect or released the names of the dead by Saturday night. Officials said the woman was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, leaving detectives to piece together what happened in the 3500 block of North Roxboro Street and whether the victims were targeted before the gunfire erupted.
Police said officers were sent to the area at about 11:58 p.m. after reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they found two adult men and an adult woman in a vehicle, all suffering from gunshot wounds. The two men were pronounced dead at the scene. The woman was taken away for treatment and was expected to recover. By early Saturday, investigators were still working the scene along North Roxboro Street near Old Oxford Road, searching for evidence and trying to determine what led to the shooting. Authorities have not said whether the shots were fired from another vehicle, from the roadside or during an encounter involving people already at the scene. Police have also not said how many shots were fired or whether anyone nearby reported seeing a suspect leave the area.
What is clear is that the case quickly became one more homicide investigation in a city already wrestling with a fresh spike in shootings. Durham police said the inquiry remains active and that more information would be released when it becomes available. The identities of the victims had not been released pending notification of relatives. Detectives also had not said whether the woman who survived would be able to help investigators reconstruct the final minutes before the attack. The vehicle, found with all three victims inside, is likely to be central evidence as police work to establish where the shooting started and whether the car was moving or parked when the gunfire began. No arrest had been announced by the end of the weekend, and police had not publicly described a possible motive.
The timing sharpened the impact of the shooting. Just hours earlier, Durham city and county leaders had met with residents to discuss a new violence reduction plan meant to address gun crime after a string of recent shootings. The discussion marked the first phase of a broader strategy that officials have said will unfold over several months and end with a violence reduction summit this spring. At that meeting, community members and leaders talked about outreach, youth support and lessons from other cities. Sidney Brodie, founder of the Durham Homicide and Victims of Violent Death Memorial Quilt, said the talks were meant to look beyond quick fixes and examine what has worked elsewhere. He said the value of the roundtable was in bringing different parts of the community together to focus on what particular neighborhoods need most.
The city entered those talks with mixed signals in hand. Durham’s fourth-quarter crime report showed violent and property crime both fell in 2025, with violent crime down nearly 17% from the year before. Homicides remained at 39 in both 2024 and 2025, but Police Chief Patrice Andrews said gun-related homicides fell, from 34 in 2024 to 28 in 2025. Robberies and aggravated assaults also declined, and the city reported stronger homicide clearance rates. Even so, officials have said the start of 2026 has been more troubling. Durham had 22 people shot in 2026 as of mid-February, with seven of them dying, according to reporting presented around the city’s crime update. Mayor Leonard Williams said recently that youth violence in particular was “out of control” and that the city needed an urgent, community-centered response while longer-term strategies were developed.
Residents who spoke publicly before the latest shooting described a city that has seen progress on paper but still feels shaken by repeated gunfire. Renee Johnson, who said she has lived in Durham for the past three years, told WRAL that she worries about the level of violence in the city and believes more mentoring is needed for young people. She said her church has started a youth mentorship effort aimed at confronting bullying and violence. Brodie, speaking during the violence-reduction discussion, said the number of homicides can make it feel as if the deaths “seem to be unending.” Those concerns took on new weight after the North Roxboro Street shooting, which happened less than a day after the public conversation about safety. For investigators, the next steps are familiar but crucial: identify the dead, interview witnesses, trace the vehicle’s movements and determine whether surveillance video, shell casings or digital evidence can point to a shooter.
By late Saturday, the case remained open, with police still trying to establish who fired the shots and why. The next major milestone is likely to be the release of victim identities and any update from Durham police on suspects, evidence or arrests.
Author note: Last updated March 16, 2026.