Teenager shot and killed in Wilmington; another boy hospitalized

Wilmington Police have made an arrest in connection to a shooting about a week and a half ago, that left one teenager dead, and injured another boy.

Detectives have charged 28-year-old Lee Turner, of Wilmington, with murder and related offenses. Turner is accused of shooting and killing 14-year-old Naj’m Hickmond on the city’s west side Sunday, June 17, 2012.

The homicide was the city’s fourth in less than a week.

Sunday afternoon at about 5:00 p.m., gunshots were reported in the 1500-block of West 4th Street. Police found Hickmond lying in an alley with a gunshot wound to the chest. Paramedics tried to revive him on the way to Christiana Hospital, but he was pronounced dead. Also, a boy between 10 and 12 years old was shot in the stomach and remained in critical condition. 

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Recent violence in the city has also led to a march for peace as well as criticism of Wilmington’s police.  The Delaware Criminal Justice Council this week is considering ways to assist the city as it looks for solutions to stemming the patterns of violent crime affecting Wilmington, according to Mayor James Baker. 

“We must continue to work together as a community if we are going to succeed in changing lives for the better,” Baker said in a statement over the weekend.  “If we can’t change the harmful actions and attitudes of repeat offenders with long criminal records, then we will continue to arrest these individuals and remove them from our streets so that they can no longer damage our communities and our people.” 

Other actions in response to the recent violence include the reopening of a curfew center at the Walnut Street YMCA.  The Delaware General Assembly and the state Children’s Department have also been working with the city to address policing and social services.

Meanwhile, anyone with information on Sunday’s shootings is urged to call the criminal investigations division of Wilmington Police at 302-576-3620, the tip line at 302-576-3990, or Delaware Crime Stoppers at 800-TIP-3333.

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