Four Wilmington men were indicted Friday on 75 charges related to stealing cars and using them in shootings in January, according to the Delaware Department of Justice.
The crime spree began on the afternoon of Jan. 14 when 18-year-old Kyair Keys and 21-year-old Jahmir Morris-Whitt fired at Kool Kids Learning Center on West 23rd Street in Wilmington, according to the state justice department. Police said they found multiple shell casings on the scene, some of which had shattered a window. The adult and three infants inside were unharmed.
Six days later on Jan. 20, 20-year-old Markel Richards and 23-year-old Walike Parham stole a gray Mazda 3 in Newark, according to court records. Then, along with Morris-Whitt, the men drove to Wilmington’s East Side neighborhood and shot a 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old man at 8:46 p.m.
One of the men had four gunshot wounds. Police said at the time of the incident that both were taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Wilmington police officers drove after the shooters’ car, court records show, and eventually, the occupants got out and ran away. Police were able to catch Morris-Whitt and found a gun on him, court records say. None of the four men indicted were legally allowed to own firearms.
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Early in the morning on Jan. 22, Wilmington police said they were called to the BP gas station at 201 South Heald St. in Wilmington for reports of shots fired. There, they found someone was shot at “multiple times” by Richards, Parham and Keys, but was uninjured, according to the DOJ.
The shooters were driving stolen cars, one of which prosecutors later determined was taken from the Elkton area. They also reportedly stole a white Dodge Charger from Philadelphia that day, police said.
At 4:06 p.m. on Jan. 22, the men drove the Charger down West Seventh Street in Wilmington and shot at “a group of bystanders” before driving away. The Department of Justice said no one was injured, but some cars were damaged.
That night, police saw the Dodge Charger driving down East 30th Street and signaled for the driver to pull over. Keys, who court records show did not have a valid driver’s license, instead sped off onto Washington Street. Police reported they chased after the car, at some points driving as fast as 100 miles per hour.
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Keys was eventually caught near I-95, and police arrested him, Richards and Parham. They also found two guns in the car.
“This was a disturbing, reckless, and senseless pattern of violence, and we are extremely fortunate that nobody suffered greater harm,” said Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings. “We will work to ensure swift and full justice on behalf of the victims and of the people of our state.”
Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy, whose department worked with the Department of Justice to secure the indictments, said he was proud of his officers’ work and the collaborative effort “to hold dangerous offenders accountable for threatening public safety.”
All four men are incarcerated at Howard R. Young Correctional Institution in Dover on charges including attempted murder, motor vehicle theft and conspiracy.
Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.
