Jay Wright can’t understand how his younger brother became Wilmington’s latest victim of gun violence early Tuesday morning.
Wilmington police said the 57-year-old man was fatally shot early Tuesday morning in Wilmington’s Hedgeville neighborhood. Though police have not publicly identified him, Wright said his brother was known to most in the community as “Mr. Mike.”
“He really tried to help whoever he could help,” Wright said. “I heard around here… whenever there was an issue, he would try to resolve it, intervene, keep the block clean and safe.”
Though Wright doesn’t know the details of what happened early Tuesday, he attributed the violence largely to young people with guns often unable to work through their differences − the same kind of situations his brother tried to diffuse.
The fact that his brother died by gunfire, however, has left him stunned.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “These young guys are out here shooting like they out in the wild, wild west and it’s not right.”
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Wilmington police officers were called about 2:15 a.m. to the 100 block of Cedar St. where they located a man with gunshot wounds, police said. He was transported to the hospital, where police said he died from his injuries.
No further information was immediately released by police Tuesday morning, though officials said “further details will be released when possible.”
Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to contact Detective Steven Bender at (302) 576-3621. Tips can also be provided to Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333 or delawarecrimestoppers.org.
Tuesday’s killing comes on the heels of Wilmington recording its youngest victims of gun violence this year, when early Monday morning, both a 6-year-old and a 7-year-old were found with gunshot wounds in the 2300 block of N. Pine St.
Both children were considered stable at the hospital, according to Wilmington police. Further information on the incident was not released.
SOLUTIONSWilmington has a ‘homicide crisis.’ Can a Newark, New Jersey, program fix it?
