Murder suspect denied bail in Durham after 2 killed in weekend shootings
Brandon Julius Eno hung his head as his charges were read out Monday morning.
First-degree murder, two counts.
Eno, 32, his face mostly hidden by a blue surgical mask, shook his head repeatedly during his first court appearance before District Court Judge Doretta Walker.
He was charged Saturday with fatally shooting two people, including a woman he married in 2011.
A prosecutor said the call initially came in as a “possible hostage situation.”
Police reported finding 32-year-old Jennifer Faith Eno at 11:12 a.m. bleeding from a gunshot wound inside a car near a busy intersection along U.S. 15-501. She died at the hospital.
Eight minutes later, an off-duty Durham police officer heard shots in a nearby parking lot on Mount Moriah Road.
There, they found 31-year-old Scott Edward Snyder Jr. with a gunshot wound. He also died in the hospital.
Brandon Eno was soon taken into custody, though police declined to release more information or say how the two killings might be connected.
“All we can confirm is that the suspect and the female victim were known to each other,” a spokesperson for the Durham Police Department said in an email Monday.
The Enos are registered to vote at the same northern Durham County address, but it’s unclear if they were still husband and wife.
A public defender told the judge that Brandon Eno is the father of a 12-year-old.
“Am I allowed to say anything?” Brandon Eno spoke up Monday as the judge weighed whether to grant him bail. “I also have no criminal history.”
Walker listened, but denied bail.
Eno will be assigned a public defender. His next court date is June 4.
10 people shot in Durham this week. 2nd suspect now charged in quadruple shooting.
Shootings on the rise
The double homicide comes amid a wave of gun violence in the Bull City, with 66 people shot as of May 4.
The number of shootings this year recently eclipsed last year’s, with daylight shootouts causing chaos multiple times since mid-April around the downtown bus terminal and American Tobacco Campus.
At least 12 more people were shot in the past week alone. Mayor Leonardo Williams said last week that police are stretched thin.
The department is operating with 140 vacancies, meaning a quarter of the sworn officer positions are unfilled.
How to help
Anyone with information about Saturday’s shootings is asked to contact Investigator L. Sprinkle at 919-560-4440 ext. 29248 or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200 or online at www.durhamcrimestoppers.org.
CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards of up to $2,000 for information leading to arrests in felony cases and callers never have to identify themselves.
