A 45-year-old man died Sunday afternoon after being stabbed at a New Castle-area motel, Delaware State Police said.
The man, who will be identified once family is notified, was not staying at the Superlodge, front desk staff told Delaware Online/The News Journal on Monday.
The staff members said they didn’t have much information about the incident, but said those involved were “outsiders.”
According to state police, officers from multiple departments, including city of New Castle, New Castle County and Delaware State Police, were called to the Superlodge, located at 1213 West Ave., around 2:45 p.m. for reports of the stabbing,
They found the man, who was stabbed in the upper torso, in the motel’s parking lot. Paramedics took him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Most motel residents did not want to speak to reporters Monday morning, though one couple said they didn’t realize anything serious was going on. They saw police lights flashing under their door but didn’t venture outside to check what happened.
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“I actually thought it was quiet for a change,” a woman said as she packed up her car. She did not want to give her name.
“Wow, I didn’t know anything about it,” she added in surprise when she was told the man died.
The motel was largely quiet Monday, with leftover crime scene tape stapled to a wall and tied to a room handle the only sign of the stabbing. But the motel has long been know as a problem property, and Delaware State Police troopers have called the neighborhood a “high crime area.”
Just last month, troopers were called to the motel for a report of shots fired after two women who were staying at the business got into an argument. Police said one woman shot at the other.
And in late October, a man was found fatally shot behind the Super Gas located next to the Superlodge.
At the time, one woman who grew up in Wilmington’s Southbridge neighborhood told Delaware Online/The News Journal the area is “so much worse” than where she grew up. She said the several low-cost motels in the area contribute to crime, violence and drug use.
Delaware State Police have not said whether they have information about a suspect of someone in custody. The agency said only that the investigation “remains active and ongoing.”
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