The recently-graduated Duke student robbed and shot near East Campus last August has decided to take legal action against a suspect identified through DNA testing.
The victim, Trinity ’10, was robbed at gunpoint while walking home late at night with his girlfriend on the 500 block of Watts Street Aug. 8. The victim, who does not wish to be identified, was shot in the stomach when he attempted to resist the attacker.
“I am eventually going to press charges... whenever they find the guy,” the graduate said.
He added that police have named the suspect but do not have him in custody.
Durham Police Department Public Information Officer Kammie Michael and DPD Captain Larry Smith, who is involved with the investigation, did not respond to multiple attempts for comment.
Following the incident, the victim, a computer science major, spent more than a week in Duke Hospital where he underwent surgery to repair damage to his intestines and bladder.
His girlfriend, an art student in Durham, was not harmed.
The graduate originally indicated that he did not wish to press charges, according to a June 9 e-mail sent by Smith to Partners Against Crime 2, a volunteer organization that monitors crime in Durham.
The graduate later said he misunderstood the police report, and thought DPD had not identified a suspect because the suspect is currently not in custody.
“I had thought they hadn’t actually found the suspect,” he said. “A lieutenant from Duke [University] Police Department talked with [an officer] at the Durham Police Department and he told me that wasn’t the case.”
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