Gunfire sent Chapel Hill Police rushing to the 100 block of West Franklin Street around 7 p.m. Friday, and officers detained a suspect with no injuries reported. The university confirmed the incident and the lack of a continuing threat in a crime alert issued at 8:54 p.m.
According to WRAL, the man was arrested after firing a gun on West Franklin Street, with police confirming no one was hurt in the incident. UNC's own notification, issued through its Alert Carolina system, verified that Chapel Hill Police responded to calls of shots fired and detained a suspect without incident. The incident occurred off campus on West Franklin Street.
The investigation remains ongoing, and officials have said they will release additional information as it becomes available. WRAL identified the suspect as 18-year-old Axel Zizumbo and reported that he faced three charges: a concealed-carry of a weapon violation, discharging a firearm in town limits, and going armed to the terror of the public.
A Tense Stretch Along Chapel Hill's Main Corridor
A Tense Stretch Along Chapel Hill's Main Corridor Friday's shots-fired call lands in an already jittery stretch for Franklin Street. Just two days earlier, on September 30, an armed robbery unfolded at a Circle K gas station on East Franklin Street, where a suspect wearing a Scream mask brandished a handgun, according to Chapelboro. That robbery forced Estes Hills Elementary and Phillips Middle School into temporary secure mode before police made an arrest on September 30, a case Hoodline detailed in its report on the Circle K armed robbery.
It's not the first time gunfire has drawn police to the Franklin Street area this year. Chapel Hill Police investigated a shooting on North Roberson Street, between West Franklin and West Rosemary Streets, on March 16, 2026, which resulted in the arrest of a 19-year-old suspect charged with discharging a firearm in city limits and going armed to the terror of the public, according to the Town of Chapel Hill. Police reported no injuries in that earlier incident either.
Why UNC Sounds the Alarm So Fast
In August 2023, a graduate student killed associate professor Dr. Zijie Yan inside Caudill Labs, a shooting covered by Carolina Public Press.
Alert Carolina is UNC's notification system.
For now, police have said there is no ongoing threat to the community tied to Friday's gunfire, and the investigation continues. Residents and students along one of Chapel Hill's busiest corridors await further word.
