Two boys, including a 12-year-old, were wounded by gunfire Tuesday night in Dover.
Despite the 17-year-old boy having been flown to Christiana Hospital, Dover Police said both youths are expected to survive their injuries. How the two came to be shot remains under investigation.
“Both victims provided multiple and differing accounts of the incident,” Sgt. Mark Hoffman, a police spokesman, said.
The double shooting occurred shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday in the 400 block of Barrister Place, a tree-lined street of townhouses less than a half-mile from East Dover Elementary School and across from a shopping center that has a convenience store, barbershop, laundromat, restaurant and liquor store.
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Several of the homes there have “no trespassing” signs in the windows.
A resident for six years said the neighborhood is usually quiet during the day, but can be bustling in the afternoon and evening, especially when the weather is nice.
“There’s a good bit of activity after school with all the children coming home and playing,” said the woman who declined to provide her name publicly.
When there are problems, she said they usually happen in the back of the neighborhood, farther away from South Little Creek Road.
“I never go back there, not even to turn my car around,” she said, adding she heard Tuesday night’s gunfire.
“I was doing homework with my kids,” she said. “I’d say there were maybe 10 rounds.”
Then she saw the police in the neighborhood. She didn’t know who was hurt.
Officers responding to the shooting Tuesday found several shell casings at the rear of a home on Barrister Place
While police were on scene, Hoffman said two boys, ages 12 and 17, arrived at Bayhealth Hospital, Kent Campus, by private vehicles.
The older boy was flown to Christiana Hospital with a gunshot wound to the lower torso. The younger child was shot in the hand and remained in Dover for treatment.
This marks the fifth and sixth people to be shot in Dover so far this year. That’s down from the same time last year when 12 people had been shot, one fatally.
This is also the second incident this week in which juveniles have been wounded by gunfire in Delaware. A 17-year-old boy was shot multiple times near a Laurel apartment complex.
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Anyone with information about Tuesday’s double shooting in Dover should contact police at (302) 736-7130. Callers may remain anonymous. Tips may also be submitted to law enforcement through Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333 or online at delaware.crimestoppersweb.com.
This is a developing story. Check back with delawareonline.com for more information.
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.
