DOVER, Del. (AP) - Police in Delaware’s capital are reporting the city’s second homicide of the year, one day after the governor alluded to growing violence in Dover in his State of the State address.
Dover police say 19-year-old Jamil Green was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds outside an apartment complex shortly before 3 a.m. Friday. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting occurred just over two weeks after 15-year-old Kainami Grant of Milford called 911 shortly before 10 p.m. Jan. 7 to report that he had been shot. Grant was found in an alley after being shot several times. He died at a local hospital.
Master Corporal Mark Hoffman, a spokesman for the Dover Police Department, said there have been seven shooting incidents in the city so far this year, including the two fatalities.
Last year, Dover police handled 50 shooting incidents that resulted in five deaths, compared to 31 shooting incidents and four deaths in 2018.
In response to the increase in shootings, police have stepped up patrols, including extra-duty patrols in high crime areas. Hoffman also noted that Dover police have been working with outside law enforcement agencies to compare findings in similar incidents and, as of Friday morning, began partnering with Delaware State Police to combat violent and gang-related crime.
On Thursday, Democratic Gov. John Carney spoke of the state’s partnership with local authorities to try to reduce violent crime in Wilmington, Delaware’s largest city.
The Group Violence Intervention initiative is aimed at helping those at high risk of both committing violent crime and becoming victims of violence avoid involvement in the criminal justice system by offering them social support services.
“We’re challenging them to put down their guns and offering an alternative to a life of crime and violence,” Carney told state lawmakers. “We need a similar approach here in our capital city.”
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