‘There’s other avenues’: Wilmington safety office aims to protect residents by speaking with those at risk for gun violence

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Violence continues to plague Wilmington.

Earlier this month, four people were shot at a home in the city’s East Side neighborhood that a city councilwoman said had long been a source of drugs and other trouble.

The night before Independence Day, a man sleeping on his porch in the same neighborhood was critically injured after a group of teenagers allegedly put fireworks in his back pocket and they exploded.

Tensions also remain high in the aftermath of the night in late June when police shot and killed a 19-year-old man who allegedly pointed a gun at a crowd and ran. Residents have held several protests, including one outside Attorney General Kathy Jennings’ Wilmington home where protesters called for the unidentified officer to be arrested for the fatal shooting of Kadir Skinner.

So far this year, 58 people have been shot in Wilmington, including 12 minors, and there have been seven homicides. Last year there were 84 shooting victims and 10 homicides. In 2024, 101 people were shot and 25 killed. Though the numbers fluctuate each year, the persistent bloodshed from firearms has long made the city of 71,000 people one of America’s most violent cities per capita.

“Some people don’t feel comfortable in their own house because of what’s going on in our community,” City Councilman Coby Owens told WHYY News. “They want to be able to, if they have young children, let the children walk to the local basketball court or park. But to be honest, it’s a small group of people that are disrupting so many people’s lives.”

Successive mayoral administrations and police chiefs over the past few decades have tried numerous strategies to tackle the carnage that persists in a handful of neighborhoods that roughly encircle the downtown business district.

Now, Mayor John Carney has created the Office of Community Safety. He’s named longtime social worker John Cook, who most recently led a statewide effort that tries to convince those considered at high risk of violence to change their criminal ways, to lead what’s currently a one-man unit, but it could expand.

Cook, 45, who is working within Carney’s ninth-floor suite at City Hall, told WHYY News he sees his role as a coordinator of public safety and social services to neighborhoods to benefit law-abiding residents as well as people considered likely to engage in crime, to prevent and respond to violence.

That means working with city police, fire and ambulance services, the state’s Group Violence Intervention office that he ran from 2020 until last month, city offices such as Parks and Recreation and Licenses and Inspections, plus local nonprofits and social service agencies that serve people in Wilmington.

“We are working as a collective to coordinate the services,” Cook said. “I want to tell the community to stay encouraged and that things will change because we’re working collectively as a group to make sure that there’s a continuum of care for those guys” at risk of engaging in violent acts.

“But we’re going to give them the opportunity to change. And when you change that, then ultimately, the community can start to be healthier again,” he added.

Daniel Walker, deputy chief of staff for Carney, echoed Cook.

“Our whole goal is to leverage the resources and the groups that are already operating,” Walker said. “We’re going to work with our nonprofit and community-based providers to leverage their existing programs as identified by the needs of Wilmington.”

In a statement, Carney touted Cook’s “years of on-the-ground experience serving Wilmington communities. His leadership and insight will be critical in effectively bringing together community partners and first responders, and in sustaining our whole-city approach to public safety.”

Cook stressed that reaching out to those on the brink of causing mayhem often pays off. He said many grew up without fathers, have been victims of violence themselves and just need a chance to find their way in society.

“I’m trying to curate a continuation of care” to help those folks, who are primarily young men, he said, adding that the goal is to “find out exactly what their self-actualization is.”

“We want to be a part of helping them discover where their true joy is, what their visions are, what they see themselves being in the future. We want to be a part of that process and make them recognize that violence isn’t an end-all be-all. There’s other avenues,” Cook said.

Owens called Cook a solid pick to head the initiative.

“With selecting someone like John Cook you really get that fine blend of understanding of the government operations, but then also the understanding of our community streets,” Owens said.

“John’s done a lot of positive work in our community in reentry, working with [Group Violence Intervention], working with individuals who had nowhere else to turn whatsoever. We also have to make sure that he has the strong foundation around him to be successful because none of this is going to be fixed by one person.”

Shawna Flowers, whose son Aaron was shot to death in 2008 in a case that remains unsolved, said the streets remain in crisis. Flowers often goes to crime scenes and posts videos on social media — like this one — from a scene where a man was shot Aug. 24 near 24th and Carter streets in the city’s northeast area.

Flowers applauded Carney for creating the office and encouraged Cook to spend time out on the streets instead of City Hall.

“You have to reach the households, which means mothers like me,” Flowers said. “We’re the ones actually carrying the trauma of violence every day. So you have to have a whole wraparound support. You want to reach the child, you got to reach the mothers.”