Durham man says NCCU professor fired after homecoming saved his life

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- A North Carolina Central University criminal justice assistant professor is out of a job after discharging a firearm on educational property during homecoming, but according to one man who did not want to be identified, the professor, Danye Negash Medhin, saved his life.

"If the gunshots wouldn't have went off, I think they would have got me to the ground and beat me to death," he said.

The man was tailgating at NCCU's homecoming with family and friends. He told ABC11 that two men approached their table to take utensils and a verbal altercation ensued.

"He picked up the box of utensils, threw it at me and my wife, and took the cooler that was sitting on the table as well, that had some drink in it, threw it. It went everywhere," said the man.

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According to him, the aggressor tackled him and began fighting his wife and her friend.

"His friend then comes up and hits me in the back of the head with the pistol. At that point, I'm bleeding. I let him go. I put my hands up," he said. "I got hit, I'm ready to respond, but I see the gun pointed at me."

The man said the two assailants left but returned with a group of people. He claimed he felt threatened and hit the initial aggressor. Medhin was by his side.

"He starts pointing a gun at me and him saying 'I don't fight. I shoot.' I said 'OK, you got it,'" he recalled.

The man said it turned into a brawl. He was struck a second time with a gun. He estimated nearly a dozen men attacked him.

"At that point, I'm praying to God," he said. "I heard three gunshots in the air at that point, boom boom, and they just left."

Medhin fired the shots. Police reports have been filed and the man said he's been looking for answers from NCCU ever since. To his knowledge, the people who did this have not been caught.

"My client shouldn't have to seek out or continue to seek out updated information," said his attorney, Daryl Davidson Sr. "I want to make very clear my client's friend didn't come there with a gun to cause any trouble. My client's friend went back to his vehicle ... to come back and return to help his friend by shooting the shots into the air.

Medhin faced a judge nearly a month ago. Investigators said Medhin fired three shots into the air at approximately 7:45 p.m. His employment with the university was discontinued.

NCCU told ABC11 that it had no additional information to share regarding this incident.

Medhin's friend said he the former professor was an alum of NCCU who was loved by students and was proud to work at his alma mater.

"To lose his job over coming to my aid, and have to literally do the only thing that could have been done to save my life..." he contemplated.