A New Castle County jury found two 21-year-old men guilty of multiple murders and other shooting charges as part of a gang war prosecutors said was spurred by social media.
Elijah Coffield and Gregory Wing were each convicted of multiple counts of first-degree murder, as well as multiple counts of attempted murder, gang participation and firearm charges. After a day of deliberation, the jury also found them not guilty of lesser charges.
The two were first charged with murder in the deaths of 17-year-old Ollier “Slim” Henry, 19-year-old Taquan “Tink” Davis and 21-year-old Shareef Hamilton in June 2021 as part of a sweeping gang indictment that targeted 14 young men that prosecutors said are NorthPak members. The three men were killed in fall 2020.
Who was convicted of what?
Coffield was convicted of killing Henry and Hamilton, while Wing was convicted of killing Henry and Davis. In closing statements to jurors Tuesday, prosecutors said the gang considered murder a “score” on rival groups of young men who insulted each other on social media and fired gunshots in the city’s streets.
Over some four weeks of trial testimony, prosecutors presented numerous text messages and Instagram posts they said showed the men were NorthPak’s “shot-callers,” who sought a reputation as shooters and also revenge for perceived slights against fellow gang members on social media.
“Social media disputes led to very real bloodshed in Wilmington,” said Deputy Attorney General Erika Flaschner in her closing statement to jurors.
What was the evidence against these men?
The trial included some 700 pieces of evidence, many of which were the defendants’ own text messages and social media posts.
Those posts included the men posing with handguns investigators said were murder weapons and mocking their victims with posts like one that was a screenshot of paramedics trying to save Henry’s life that included the caption, “He got stretched like ah limo out there.”
Prosecutors implored the jury to interpret the text messages and social media posts as incriminating and they also leaned on the testimony of a former gang member who said he was present and testified to Coffield’s and Wing’s roles in the murders.
Defense attorneys told the jury the man was lying to investigators and the jury in return for mercy from the state as it relates to his own cases.
“A half-truth is a whole lie. Don’t believe some of what they say,” Tim Woodward, Coffield’s attorney, told the jury. “I submit to you that you should not believe anything they say.”
NORTHPAK INDICTMENT: At least 6 killings linked to sweeping Wilmington-area gang indictment that left 14 charged
Others that prosecutors claim were part of the NorthPak gang still await trial. Coffield and Wing will be sentenced later this year.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.
