Man charged, other suspects ID'd in shooting of boy, 10

Police have arrested and charged a 24-year-old man in the early Tuesday morning shooting of a 10-year-old boy inside his Wilmington home, and say they have identified additional suspects as well.

Jaleel Goldsborough was charged Tuesday afternoon with firearm possession by a prohibited person and causing injury or death to another person, city police spokesman Master Sgt. Shane Sowden said. Goldsborough was awaiting arraignment tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.

Police did not release identities of other suspects Tuesday night, but Alexandra Coppadge, spokeswoman for Mayor Dennis P. Williams, said authorities have identified several in the shooting and are continuing to investigate. No further details were released.

The boy, who was shot in the head, remained in critical condition Tuesday night after emergency surgery, police said.

Wilmington Police Inspector Clayton Smith, at a Tuesday afternoon news conference, did not offer any information about Goldsborough or answer questions about the shooting or arrest.

Police revealed no details about the shooting, “to protect the integrity of the investigation,” Sowden said.

That shooting occurred about 1:50 a.m., in the 700 block of Townsend Place in a Wilmington Housing Authority complex off South Heald Street. Police released no information about the shooting until after 8:30 a.m.

The boy was rushed into surgery at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Rockland, Sowden said. He had a single head wound that was a penetrating gunshot, not a graze wound, Sowden said.

He was the fourth person under the age of 18 to be shot this month in Wilmington and the 12th juvenile among 86 people shot in the city this year. Among 18 fatal shootings, two claimed the lives of minors. They were city residents Jordan Ellerbe, 16, shot Jan. 23 in 200 block of N. Broom St., and Deshon Sellers, 17, shot Feb. 16 at 24th and Carter streets.

The boy shot Tuesday was identified as Makhi Mitchell by his aunt Lisa Mitchell and grandmother Marsha Mitchell of Wilmington. They went to the shooting scene after going to the hospital.

“He’s a good boy,” his aunt said. “Nice boy.”

One of Makhi’s friends, who rode up to the Mitchell home on a bicycle after police left, said he spent time Monday with Makhi. He said they didn’t really do anything but hang out. “He’s a good guy,” his friend said.

A neighbor said Makhi was playing squirt guns with his children at his house Monday.

This was not the first time Wilmington gun violence hit the Mitchell family. Lisa Mitchell’s 14-year-old son, Bakeem, was killed by a stray bullet that ricocheted during a gun battle on Madison Street on Oct. 25, 2004.

He was shot after going to a corner store for snacks while hanging out with friends at the William “Hicks” Anderson Community Center in the 500 block of N. Madison St. Hit less than a block from home, he collapsed at his front door, losing consciousness in Lisa Mitchell’s arms as he said his last words, “Mom, Mom.”

After Makhi’s shooting, Lisa Mitchell said, the family was holding up “as well as you could expect.”

They have been living in the home where the shooting occurred for about two years, she said. She and his grandmother declined to say more, explaining that they were told not to discuss the situation or shooting because of the police investigation.

Wilmington Police Chief Bobby L. Cummings made his first statement about the shooting shortly after 1 p.m., saying he had spoken to and gotten updates from detectives “who are aggressively investigating the shooting of this innocent child.”

“It is important, members of the community and the police work together to stand up against senseless gun violence,” Cummings said. “Should anyone have information regarding this investigation, I ask that they come forward to help police bring this violent offender to justice.”

Two hours earlier, Master Sgt. Adam Ringle, in charge of the investigation at the scene, said police were getting “a lot of conflicting statements” about what happened, so they were continuing to conduct interviews to determine exactly how the shooting occurred.

Officers, including Ringle, also collected evidence over several hours at the house. Ringle bagged a piece of evidence, believed to be a T-shirt, from behind an air-conditioner two doors away from the boy’s home.

Police also examined an older model, dark gray Nissan Altima with a Delaware license plate, parked across from the boy’s home.

Mayor Dennis P. Williams visited with the victim’s family at the hospital early Tuesday morning, spokeswoman Alexandra Coppadge said.

“It’s a heartbreaker,” said neighbor Angela Santiago, who has lived in the area 10 years.

Santiago said she fears the boy who was shot may be one of the neighbor children who helps her with her garden.

“I don’t know their names, I don’t know their moms, but sometimes I give them candy or bananas.

“This is a shame,” she said, watching police work the crime scene a few doors down.

The house stands in the middle of a long group of row houses where small backyards face the narrow roadway, beyond which is a chain-link fence overgrown with weeds and the Harry Evans Sr. Memorial Route/South Heald Street Bridge just beyond.

On Tuesday, several neighbors declined to talk about the shooting. One woman, before closing her front door, said, “We’re just waiting to find out what happened like everyone else.”

Every parent in the city worries about the safety of his or her children, said Rita Foster, who raised her three children in the house next door to the shooting scene.

She owns Caring Hands Child Care at 1106 D St., where the back door is just seven doors from the home where the boy was shot.

The building bubbled with happy voices Tuesday afternoon as employee Angela Truitt of Wilmington and a teenage summer assistant led a group of young children from the scene.

“I have children of my own,” Truitt said, “so I know what parents go through. I know what it’s like to find an adequate, safe environment for them to come to.” She said she always is concerned about the safety of her children, ages 10 and 11.

Back-to-school time is welcomed by many parents who don’t have the resources to send their children to camps, summer programs or day care, she said.

At least when school resumes, she said, parents know their children “will be occupied and they’ll be safe.”

Truitt and Foster both were here earlier this summer when the mayor visited after an earlier shooting to promote safety in the city.

“He actually peeked in the window and said, ‘Hello,’ to the kids,” Truitt said.

“They were amazed,” she added with a smile. “They don’t get to see public figures up close like that.”

Wilmington City Councilwoman Hanifa Shabazz, who represents the area where the shooting occurred, visited Tuesday morning “to give some comfort and resolve to the families.”

In a “community flooded with drugs and guns” from outside, she said, “our children are not safe anywhere these days.”

Learning the city’s latest shooting victim is just 10 years old, she said, “it just tears at your heart.

“You feel hopeless,” she added. “You feel helpless.”

Staff reporters Brittany Horn, Jenna Pizzi and Esteban Parra contributed to this story.

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.