Durham Reporter

A Durham business owner, who has been in a dispute over parking and accessibility with a neighboring mixed-use developer, is now advocating for action to stem violent crime.

Shea Ramirez, owner of Sh’Bella Dreamz Recreation Center, located on Shannon Road, told ABC 11 News that she is concerned about the increase in shootings in Durham. A recent shooting in early April on Auto Drive near a night club in South Durham resulted in one death and three injured people.

On April 7, a man was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a 22-year-old woman and seriously injuring a 27-year-old man at an apartment complex on Avon Lake Drive. A Durham man was arrested for the incident “and charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury,” according to the City of Durham Police. On April 8, a woman was arrested and charged for shooting and injuring a woman outside a gas station on North Duke Street.

“I'm trying to do my part by having a private rec center for people to come have a nice place to gather without having violence or criminal activity going on,” Ramirez told ABC 11 News. "As business owners, people in the community, something has to be done."

Sh'Bella Dreamz Recreation Center, which according to its Facebook page, had a "soft opening" on Feb. 22, is a community center, dance studio and recording studio, among other activities.

Ramirez has been in a dispute with one of the owners of a mixed-use residential and commercial development who blocked handicapped accessibility to her business by installing a fence. The development owners filed a lawsuit against Ramirez’s landlord, accusing her of running an after-hours nightclub. She denied it.

Durham Ward 3 Council Member Leonardo Williams told ABC 11 News it will take a community to solve the problem.

“If we think the government is going to do this on its own, then we are mistaken,” Williams said.

Shootings in Durham are common because of the lack of affordable housing, lack of access to jobs and lack of engagement with the community’s youth, Williams told ABC 11 News. He is also a local small business owner.

Earlier this month, Mount Vernon Baptist Church and Durham County Stadium hosted a gun buy-back event. People dropped off unloaded guns in exchange for cash. Any legal guns are to be returned to their rightful owner, while others will be destroyed in an effort to remove guns from the streets of Durham.