Neighbors hear gunshot, find man shot in street. Witness said 4 fled scene | Durham Herald Sun

A man died in Durham Wednesday after he was found lying in the street with a gunshot wound.

Durham Police Department officers found 27-year-old Leonders Horton III of Creedmoor with a gunshot wound near a cul-de-sac on Yorkfield Court after they were dispatched just after midnight Wednesday. The residential neighborhood is off Yorktown Avenue between East Cornwallis Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.

Horton was transported to a local hospital, where he died a short time later, police said.

A longtime resident in that area said she heard a gunshot on Wednesday morning. She walked outside and saw four people get into a car that sped out of the neighborhood quickly. She then saw a man lying in the street as someone held a shirt covered in blood up to his neck.

Court documents indicate Horton pleaded guilty to eluding arrest and possession with intent to distribute marijuana last week. He was sentenced to 24 months probation.

Horton was due back in court Oct. 17 after being charged Aug. 3 with two misdemeanors – assault on a female, assault in a presence of a minor – and felony breaking or entering a building with intent to terrorize or injure an occupant.

Nancy Boris, who lived next to Horton’s mother for about seven years, said she knew Horton as “Q.” He was quiet, loving and caring, she said. Boris and Horton’s mother were neighbors in the Applewood subdivision in Creedmoor until his family recently sold the home.

Horton would always insist on helping her out if he saw her trying to lift anything heavy or other strenuous work.

“ ‘No, no, no Ms. Nancy, I’ll get that,’ ” he would say, Boris, 63, said. “To me, he was wonderful.”

Horton had five kids, Boris said, and they would also visit often.

“Ride their bikes up my driveway,” Boris said. “I have candy up in the closet for them.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Investigator W. Thomson at 919-224-9471 or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to arrests in felony cases and callers do not have to identify themselves.