Wilmington violence: 'So many funerals'
- The shooter of 43-year-old Crystal Brown remained at large on Monday
- Mayor Williams%3A %27We%27re getting ready to get tough%27
WILMINGTON – Crystal Brown and her cousins stopped at Adams Market to grab some food Sunday night.
A few moments later, the 43-year-old woman left, walking right into a crossfire of bullets outside the corner store at Adams and Seventh streets. A stray bullet struck her in the chest, fatally wounding her in front of relatives, some of whom were preteens, her brother Harry Brown said Monday.
"That's the other unfortunate thing," said Brown, who along with about 30 people gathered outside his aunt's house Monday for a vigil held for his baby sister. "They saw that and now we have to deal with that on top of everything else."
The shooter remained at large Monday.
Her killing puts Wilmington on pace to surpass the number of people killed in the city in the last three years. There have been 13 homicides so far this year – that's one more than in 2011 and 2012 and five more than last year.
Her homicide came in the midst of a 41-hour period of violence in the city that included a noontime shooting Monday in which suspects shot at police officers. No injuries were reported in that incident, but an undercover police vehicle was struck by gunfire while following a car believed to have been involved in a previous shooting.
The ongoing gun violence in the city of about 71,000 residents had Mayor Dennis P. Williams on Monday promising police saturation in some of the more crime-ridden areas, including Pine Street where two men were killed last month during two separate shootings.
"This is our community, these are our folks killing each other and it anguishes me every day," Williams said at a Central Baptist Church gathering.
"I truly apologize for the violence in your community. I accept responsibility and truly apologize," said Williams. The plan is expected to begin in mid-July and would include going after slumlords.
City police will not put up with "people who are running around here being Al Capone, shooting up the place," he added. "We are going to clean up Pine Street, but it's not going to be a piece of cake."
About three dozen residents heard Williams speak at the neighborhood meeting called by City Councilwoman Hanifa Shabazz.
"We are sounding the alarm," she said. "We're no longer living in this condition. ... We want our neighborhoods back."
Like Williams and Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummings, Shabazz called on residents to work with police to end the violence that is destroying families and neighborhoods.
Jack McDonough, from the state Department of Justice, urged residents to report houses of known drug activity or storage as nuisance properties – especially in the focus area of Sixth to 10th and Lombard to Spruce streets – and report probationers loitering on blocks where they have no connections, so they can be restricted from doing so.
Williams said everyone can do something to help, from mentoring to picking up trash. But he also told residents if they see crime and don't report it, "you're part of the problem."
Williams, who talked of people helping him avoid a negative life on the streets, also promised continuing emphasis on activities for youths, job development and a massive increase in police presence. But he also warned residents that he didn't want people complaining when it happens.
"We're getting ready to get tough," he said.
After the meeting, Shabazz gathered many of the residents for a neighborhood walk, handing out papers with phone numbers for services and to report crime.
About a mile west of the meeting, friends and family of Brown gathered in the 1000 block of Seventh St. to hold a vigil for her. A photo of Brown was taped to her aunt's front porch, which was surrounded by stuffed animals. Candles were lit in her honor. A set of small white candles shaped her initials, with a set of red candles making the shape of a heart.
Her mother was surrounded by many who came to pay their respects. She said she was not ready to be interviewed.
Harry Brown, who said his mother was holding him up, said his sister visited him over the weekend in Magnolia, where he has his home. He fought back his emotions when remembering he had not told her he loved her when she left his home Sunday afternoon.
"I'm realizing that I need to seize every opportunity I have to tell the people that I love that I love them," he said. "Yesterday I didn't do that. But I think she knew that I loved her."
Others described Brown, who recently started working as a collections agent in Dover, as a person who would give the shirt off her back for anyone.
"She was like everybody's best friend," said 32-year-old Shavon Richardson, one of Brown's close friends. "She was everybody's protector. If you needed advice, she was always there for you. She was just a great friend and she will be missed."
Tiffany Smith, another of Brown's close friends, said this senseless act adds to the list of people she knows who have been killed.
"I live in Wilmington – born and raised," she said. "Every other day, I'm hearing about a childhood friend, someone I went to school with, someone I grew up with, someone who I used to play with is dying.
"I have gone to so many funerals, I cannot count. I have so many obituaries, I cannot count. I just want it to stop."
Smith said the city needed to do more in order to keep people occupied and away from violence.
"Put the guns down," she said. "You are killing people left and right, innocent people. It's a shame that now we have to bury my sister, my best friend, who was so sweet and so innocent. She was such a lovable, caring person."
The vigil started about 6:30 p.m., almost a block and a half from where Brown was shot.
About 6 hours earlier on Monday, an undercover officer in an unmarked vehicle saw a silver Buick speeding in the area of West 35th and North Market streets, said Cpl. Mark Ivey, a Wilmington police spokesman.
As the officer followed the car, an occupant fired at the officer's vehicle multiple times, and gunfire hit the passenger's side window.
The Buick crashed into a parked car in the 2800 block of N. West St. about 12:45 p.m., and three people fled from the vehicle, Ivey said. Two were taken into custody after a brief foot chase; the third remained at large Monday, he said.
A multitude of Wilmington police officers, some with assault rifles, fanned out in the area as residents, including children, walked about.
A young boy was standing near the police crime tape at North West and West 29th streets when Wanda Lee came up and recognized him. She sternly told him to go home, then told him "I love you."
"The young children, they're being exposed to too much and they have no regard for life whatsoever. None whatsoever," she said.
"It's sad. People are losing their loved ones just for something so mediocre. They're not discussing what's going on. They're just pulling out guns."
Lee said with Sunday night's homicide and the shootings previous to that, the city feels like it's lost its way.
"This is just too much. Too much," she said. "We need to take control of the city."
Wilmington police also were called out to other shooting incidents during the 41-hour period that started on Saturday, including the arrest of 23-year-old Shavar Watson after police said he drew a gun in front of patrolling officers.
Wilmington Officers Danielle Watson and Jose Vasquez were on patrol about 8:25 p.m. Saturday when they heard several gunshots near the 200 block of N. Van Buren St. The officers then saw Watson standing and pointing a handgun north on that block, police said.
The officers chased Watson, who allegedly discarded a 9 mm handgun as he fled. When he was captured, Ivey said, Watson was in possession of 54 bags of heroin. Watson was taken to Wilmington Hospital for treatment of a small puncture to his foot.
He's charged with with weapon offenses, possession with intent to deliver heroin and resisting arrest.
About 7 hours later, a 26-year-old city man was shot in the abdomen.
The preliminary investigation suggests the man was standing in the area of West Fifth and North Madison streets when he heard gunfire and was shot shortly after 2:30 a.m. Sunday. The man, who was driven by private vehicle to Wilmington Hospital, was uncooperative with investigators, Ivey said.
He was listed in stable condition Monday.
Lamotte X, the head of the Wilmington Peacekeepers, an anti-violence group, said it can get discouraging, but the community must come together if they want to reduce the violence.
"It's not going to be the Peacekeepers one day hitting the nail on the head and everybody is going to say 'Hurray. Everything stopped,' " he said. "We can't put it on the police officers, we can't put it on the mayor. It's going to take the community."
The group was in the 800 block of Pine St. over the weekend trying to bring awareness to the June 21 killing of Jason Turner, 32, and the June 30 homicide of Brian Rivers, 35. He said young children passing by inspired him and others in the group to continue fighting against the violence. The two were killed on or near the 800 block of Pine St.
"When you see the little children, that is encouraging," he said. "Because we get a chance to talk to them and then maybe they'll come up and live a different way."
The group plans to march in the 600 block of Adams St. this Thursday to bring awareness to Brown's killing.
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.
Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.