Duke police have concluded their internal investigation into the March officer-involved shooting outside Duke Hospital that left a Durham man dead.
Although the State Bureau of Investigation is continuing to review the March 13 incident, Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, said May 24 that the Duke University Police Department has completed its inquiry.
“DUPD has concluded its internal investigation of the incident and found that the actions of the officers were necessary and reasonable under departmental policy,” Schoenfeld said.
Schoenfeld declined to comment on the actions of the officers and the particular circumstances of the shooting.
DUPD officers Larry Carter and Jeffrey Liberto responded to a report of a suspicious person outside of Duke University Hospital’s main entrance at approximately 1:09 a.m. March 13. Durham resident Aaron Lorenzo Dorsey, 25, attacked the officers and attempted to take one of their guns, DUPD Chief John Dailey said in a statement March 17.
When other attempts to stop Dorsey failed, one officer fired his gun once, fatally injuring Dorsey, Dailey said in the statement. Dailey deferred all further comments to Schoenfeld.
Noelle Talley, public information officer for the North Carolina Department of Justice, declined to say when SBI will release further information about the case.
“When SBI agents complete their work, they will share their findings with the district attorney for Durham,” she wrote in an e-mail.
Schoenfeld said the SBI is typically involved in investigating officer-involved incidents and that it often takes a considerable amount of time to investigate cases.
Dorsey’s body was taken to the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill for an autopsy and identification following the shooting. The autopsy report is not yet complete but must be released by June 13, 90 days after the incident.
One officer was slightly injured in the confrontation March 13. In March, Dailey declined to say which officer was injured but noted that he was treated and later released by Duke University Medical Center’s Emergency Department.
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