A 17-year-old accused of gunning down an 18-year-old in the lobby of a Durham motel has been moved into the Durham County Detention Center, according to jail records, marking a new phase in a case that has been winding through pretrial proceedings for months.
Authorities allege the teen, identified in court papers as Dwayne Anthony Lovett Jr., shot and killed Suliman Nazir Burnette inside the lobby of the SureStay Plus by Best Western on Hillsborough Road. Burnette was pronounced dead at the scene. The transfer to the county jail comes after months of pretrial activity that followed an indictment returned last fall.
According to the Durham County Sheriff’s Office inmate population search, the jail roster lists “Lovett, Dwayne, Anthony” as confined to the Durham County Detention Center with a confinement date of March 19, 2026, and includes dockets such as 25CR399290. Records show he is being held without bond on charges that include first-degree murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied property. The sheriff’s roster, which is updated regularly, is the county’s official custody log, and public records link this entry to the Durham homicide case…