— Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said a man arrested Friday after a shootout at a Durham strip mall was acting in self-defense and had been released without a criminal charge.

After dozens of shots rang out on Avondale Drive around 6:10 p.m., police tracked Freddy Cheek, 33, to a laundromat and questioned him, but Lopez said Cheek was able to convince officers that he was acting in self-defense.

Jacinto Barr, 33, who was wounded in the encounter, was the instigator, Lopez said, and he is charged with assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession with intent to manufacture, sell or distribute heroin, according to the Durham County Sheriff's Department.

Lopez said Barr and Cheek knew each other.