Wilmington crime data shows shootings down, murders up 71% for 2024

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This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Murders rose 71% in the city of Wilmington in 2024 compared with the year before, according to crime data released by the mayor’s office and the Wilmington Police Department.

The Year-End 2024 CompStat report includes final, but preliminary data from the city. The FBI issues official annual crime statistics.

There were 24 murders in Wilmington last year, nearly double the number from 2023. Of those, 17 people died from gunfire, two were fatally stabbed and the rest died from assaults or being strangled. This represents a significant increase in the number of non-shooting related murders and an increase in isolated incidents prompting these crimes, the police department said.

The report, which was distributed this week by Police Chief Wilfredo Campos and former Mayor Mike Purzycki, shows the number of overall shootings at the lowest level in six years, with a 11% drop in incidents compared with 2023. There were 81 shootings in 2024, down from 91 in 2023.

In a news release, the city highlighted positive crime reduction trends, such as a 21% drop in violent crime, arrests in connection with 13 of the murders in 2024 and 10 from prior years. It also pointed out murders are down 31% from 2017, when there were 35 homicides, police said.

“While we have reported an increase in murders in 2024 compared with the year prior, detectives have already made arrests in more than a dozen of those cases,” Campos said in the news release. “We continue to follow up on leads to identify and hold accountable those responsible for the other incidents.”

New Castle County Councilman Jea Street, whose district includes areas of Wilmington, said he doesn’t see the city making progress in reducing crime.

“You’ve got kids running when they hear noise, thinking that they’re gunshots all the time. And you know, just the extent of trauma in the community as a result of shootings and results of murders as well,” he said. “Murders are up. Shootings are down, but murders are up. How can murders being up not be significant to anybody?”

Shooting incidents involving minors were up slightly from 2023. The number of incidents rose to 15 from 14 in 2023. There were 17 juvenile victims in 2024, up by two from the same period the previous year. Wilmington police made 40 juvenile gun arrests, up from 26 in 2023. The number of arrests in previous years were higher, soaring to 53 in 2020.

Wilmington City Councilwoman Zanthia Oliver said she’s concerned about youth shootings in her district, which covers the northeast side of the city. Last month, two teens were shot in the Third District near the 2300 block of N. Carter St. One of them died.

“Where are they getting the guns from?” Oliver said. “These are not fist fights. These are shootings. We’re talking about kids. Most of them are not even old enough to even go get a gun. So who are selling these guns on the streets?”

Chandra Pitts, president of One Village Alliance, said adolescents are still dealing with mental health and domestic violence issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. One Village Alliance is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting families in Delaware and Southern New Jersey.

“The report also shows just being out in the community with no mentorship, guidance, productive activities to engage in for so long, and then having that exacerbated by the inequities, injustice and public health crisis of racism that our youth are facing because most of those that the data shows come from our young Black males,” she said.

A recent study published in the Delaware Journal of Public Health shows that young African American men living in Wilmington and other cities acquired guns to feel safe. More than half of the Wilmington study participants said “beefing” on social media fueled violence. Fewer than 12% of Wilmington respondents said they saw positive opportunities there.

Pitts said the city needs to invest more resources in poorer areas of the city, such as in the East Side and the Northeast sections, instead of the Riverfront and around Market Street downtown.

Street said cutting crime in Wilmington means deploying interventionists, mental health workers, social workers, youth workers and helping people get jobs. And that costs money.

“Nobody to date has been willing to spend that money,” he said.

Oliver and Street said they are hoping that Wilmington’s new mayor, former Gov. John Carney, will have a fresh approach to reducing violent crime in the city. Carney did not respond to a request for comment.