Wilmington cast as ‘Murder Town’ in new ABC TV pilot

Jada Pinkett Smith is set to star and produce a legal drama set in Wilmington, Delaware.
Last December, Newsweek magazine dubbed Wilmington “Murdertown, USA.” Now, a new TV pilot will put that moniker back in the spotlight.
According to the trade publication Variety, Pinkett Smith will portray Delaware’s first African-American District Attorney who will work on “a polarizing, racially-charged case that threatens to burn her and her city to the ground.”
If picked up by ABC, the series could add to the negative perception of Wilmington as a dangerous place that gained a lot of traction due to last year’s Newsweek article.
In 2014, FBI statistics reveled that Wilmington’s rate of violence is 1,625 per 100,000 residents. That’s more than quadruple the national average. As city leaders look for ways to reduce those numbers, the negative perception of the city persists. Perhaps, with this new TV series, that negative perception could grow.
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