Robbery outside store led to shooting at Streets at Southpoint mall, Durham police say

An attempted robbery outside a store at The Streets at Southpoint last week led to the incident in which three people were shot and at least three more injured, Durham police said Friday.

Chaos broke out at the mall in southern Durham on Black Friday as shoppers heard gun shots and ran for the exits.

After a week-long investigation and interviews with dozens of people, police said in a news release Friday that the shooting occurred when at least two men approached a man selling jewelry outside a store on the second level of the mall.

At least one of the two men had a gun and tried to rob the man selling jewelry, police said.

Both men — the man suspected of trying to steal the jewelry, as well as the man selling jewelry — fired guns during the incident, according to police.

The suspected robber is the person police identified earlier this week as one of three shooting victims being treated in the hospital for life-threatening injuries. The man, 26, remained hospitalized Friday, police said.

The man selling jewelry was not injured and remained at the scene of the shooting.

Police said the second man who was with the suspected robber has not been identified, and provided two images of him, asking for the public’s help in identifying him.

The two other shooting victims, a 10-year-old girl (who was previously only identified as a juvenile) and a 58-year-old man (whose age was not released previously), were bystanders and not involved in the robbery, police said.

They were both treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released from the hospital last Friday, police had previously said.

Investigators said the robbery and subsequent shooting did not appear to be gang related, but did not appear to be random incidents either.

A total of two firearms, one more than was previously known, were recovered from the scene, police said.

The department’s investigation remains ongoing. Police are working with the Durham County District Attorney’s Office, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force.

Charges are pending but have not been filed yet, police said.

Anyone with further information about this case should call investigators at 919-560-4440, ext. 29119 or Durham CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to felony arrests, and callers can stay anonymous.