Officials have released few details concerning the Saturday shooting of an unidentified man by Duke University Police Department officers outside the Duke Hospital entrance.
Noelle Talley, public information officer for the North Carolina Department of Justice, wrote in an e-mail that the State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the incident at DUPD’s request. Talley did not respond to questions regarding when information about the case would be released.
“SBI agents will conduct a thorough investigation and then share their findings with the Durham District Attorney,” she wrote.
The victim’s body was taken to the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill for an autopsy and identification after the 1 a.m. shooting. A Duke statement Sunday at 5 p.m. said the victim had not been positively identified.
Representatives at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, who declined to give their names, said an autopsy report could take up to 90 days. The office referred calls to the Durham Police Department’s homicide unit.
DPD Public Information Officer Kammie Michael said DPD is not a lead investigating agency in the incident, and said she did not know why the Office of the Medical Examiner referred comment to the homicide unit.
“My understanding is that Duke and the SBI are the two lead investigating agencies,” she said. “We did provide assistance at the time of the shooting. We did have officers come. Our forensics unit helped out and our officers helped out with the scene.”
DUPD has declined to say whether the victim was armed, how many shots were fired and who fired shots due to the pending SBI investigation.
Michael said although she could only speak for DPD policy, it is not unusual for police to withhold details at the start of an active investigation.
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