Police killing shocks Delaware community

Georgetown residents are reacting to news that a Georgetown police officer has been fatally shot, and that one of the suspects is still on the loose.

Shock, sadness and fright.

That’s how Georgetown residents are reacting to news that a Georgetown police officer has been fatally shot, and that one of the suspects is still on the loose.

“Everybody was in hysterics,” said Charlene McNeal, who lives right in front of the crime scene.

Patrolman Chad Spicer was killed Tuesday night in a Georgetown neighborhood while chasing three suspects wanted for a shooting at a McDonald’s restaurant.

Police sealed off an area several blocks around the shooting scene to search for suspects.

McNeal was at the nearby Delaware Technical and Community College Owens Campus at the time.

“I was at class at Del-Tech and they had locked us down,” she said. “We were locked down for like a half-hour, nobody could move.”

When McNeal finally got out of Del-Tech, she soon found out her home was off limits.

“I couldn’t get in, everything was blocked off,” she said. “So I left because I was too scared.”

Two suspects are in custody, but police are still looking for a third, 20-year-old Christopher Reeves. Authorities describe him as armed and dangerous.

“There’s cops all over the place,” said Karla Perez-Lopez, who lives a block away from the scene of the shooting. “I mean it’s scary and stuff because what if they come here and, you never know, they could use someone as a hostage. It’s something you don’t expect around this place.”

Perez-Lopez is right.  Spicer is believed to be the first Georgetown officer killed in the line of duty.

“This area is usually a quiet area,” said Evette Johnson, an eight-year resident of Georgetown. “So for something to happen in this area and then it to be a police officer is very unusual. It’s not like it’s a major city. It just lets you know that crime is everywhere you go.”

Unusual and sad, Johnson continued.

“It’s mind-boggling,” she said. “I don’t want to see an officer get killed but they’re human. And they were doing their job. But it’s a shame he lost his life doing his job. Nobody deserves to exit like that.”

Spicer, 29, joined the Georgetown Police Department on Sept. 2, 2008.

He was also a native of Georgetown, and attended Sussex Central High School and Del-Tech.

“I think it’s terrible that you have to live like this, that people want to make everything bad for everyone else, McNeal said. “It’s sad.”

A press release from the Georgetown Police Department described him this way: “Chad was an outstanding police officer and will be sorely missed by his family, friends and his fellow officers.”

The death of Officer Spicer is the first police shooting death in Delaware since two state police troopers were killed in the line of  duty in 1972.