Six people shot in Wilmington since Monday; city officials say little about violence

Esteban Parra Jeanne Kuang
The News Journal

A week of gun violence continues in Wilmington with two more people being shot. 

Six people, half of them teenagers, have been shot in Wilmington since the start of the week. 

Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the violence that's close to eclipsing all of the reported shootings that occurred last year in Delaware's largest city. 

The number of people shot so far this year is eight fewer gunshot victims than all of last year's 78.

Six people have been shot in Wilmington since Monday.

Seventy people have been shot, 11 fatally, so far this year in Wilmington, according to The News Journal/Delaware Online's shooting database. That's a hike from last year at the same time when Wilmington had seen 51 shooting victims — 12 of them resulting in fatalities. 

Wilmington Police, after additional prodding, provided a two-sentence response about the increase in violence. 

David Karas, spokesman for the Wilmington Police Department

"As with any shooting incident that occurs, our investigators, patrol officers and specialized divisions gather and share intelligence and develop response plans to best mobilize resources as we work to identify those responsible and prevent future incidents," Wilmington Police Spokesman David Karas said in a statement. "Our investigations remain ongoing."

Wilmington shootings this week:

28-year-old man shot in Wilmington early Monday

Woman shot in Wilmington Tuesday night, police say

20-year-old man shot in Wilmington Wednesday night

14-year-old shot in Wilmington early Thursday

The most recent shooting occurred near the city's Hedgeville neighborhood about 12:10 a.m. Friday. That's when a 17-year-old boy was shot while in the 1300 block of Banning St.

The teen was taken to an area hospital and released. 

More than three hours earlier, police were in the 2200 block of Locust St. investigating another shooting. Investigators said a 24-year-old man was shot about 9:30 p.m. near the city's Prices Run community.

This would be the third person shot in the Prices Run area this week. A 14-year-old boy was shot while in the area of 23rd and Pine streets on Thursday and a 29-year-old woman was shot in the area of 23rd and Lamotte streets on Tuesday. 

Although Purzycki's office did not respond to requests for this story, on Tuesday the mayor posted on his Facebook account that he was joining 253 mayors in signing a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asking for gun control legislation — this was in response to the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.

"Recent tragic events stress once again the need to take immediate action on bipartisan gun safety," he wrote on Facebook.

Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki posted on his Facebook account he was joining 253 mayors in signing a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asking for gun control legislation – this was in response to the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.

Purzycki seldom publicly discusses shootings that occur in Wilmington. When pressed for comment on an April shooting that injured six people, the most in a single incident in recent city history, his office issued a statement saying, “We need to stop this type of reckless behavior.”

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.