Police investigating shots fired at Mill Road plaza

Durham police are investigating a Mill Plaza incident in which two males were captured running on camera as one of the men fired a gun. 

“The surveillance shows two people running through the back alley of the plaza,” said Durham Deputy Police Chief Rene Kelley. “There appears to be a bullet striking the building. The two people then disappear from the camera’s view.”

The incident occurred around 1 a.m. on Sunday, March 3, when officers on a foot patrol heard what sounded like “fireworks or gun shots” and rushed to investigate.

“They went to the area ... and did not locate anything,” said Kelley.

On Sunday morning, Durham police received a call that some spent shell casings were found in the area. Officers went back to the scene and collected the casings, which “appear to be from a 9 mm” gun.

On Monday, police received video evidence from a security camera in the plaza. The video showed the men running down the plaza toward the Federal Credit Union. The video also shows what officers believe to be a bullet striking the credit union building.

After reviewing the video, Durham police decided to ask UNH officials to share the information with the university community. This request led to an email from the UNH Police to the student population on Tuesday, March 5 informing students of the shooting incident.

According to Kelley, police decided to wait to release the information because they were still investigating the incident until late on Monday.

Durham Police also never received a report about the gun shots or any victims.

“There were no reports of anyone having been injured,” nor was there any “physical evidence that someone had been struck,” said Kelley.

Since police are in the middle of the “very active and ongoing investigation,” Kelley could not comment on whether or not witnesses have been found. There are also no descriptions available for the two males.

Kelley did not want to comment on the likelihood of the two males being UNH students. He said that officials do not know if they’re students or not, but have information that it was not a random incident.

Kelley also said that students do not have to to take extra precautions, but should be careful anyway.

“I think this is a safe community, but, as always, take caution,” Kelley said. “Be cognizant of your surroundings and look out for one another.”

Anyone with information concerning the incident should contact Sgt. Frank Daly at 868-2324.