In the early morning hours of May 17, 2015, a sense of unease settled over a home on Bryn Mawr Avenue in Salisbury, Maryland. Inside, 20-year-old James L. H. Skinner, a male who had been residing at the residence with a family friend and her three teenage children for the past two months, was about to face an unforeseen tragedy. Shortly after 3:30 a.m., several individuals entered the home. Investigators later noted there were no signs of a forced entry.
A confrontation erupted between Skinner and the intruders, shattering the quiet of the morning.
The homeowner, who was present in the house at the time but was not injured, made a harrowing discovery. She found Skinner lying in the entrance of the home, suffering from a gunshot wound. An emergency call was made, but despite the efforts of medical responders, Skinner was pronounced dead at the hospital. An autopsy would later confirm that the cause of death was a gunshot and the manner was a homicide. The motive for the deadly encounter was not immediately clear to investigators.
The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit, in conjunction with the Salisbury Police Department and the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office, launched a thorough investigation. Their efforts led them to two suspects: Daequan White and Shaquan Wallace. White, a 20-year-old from Salisbury, was charged with first-degree murder. His trial, however, ended in a mistrial in February 2016 after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision.
The case against the second suspect, 20-year-old Shaquan Wallace, also of Salisbury, brought a more definitive conclusion. During the investigation, law enforcement recorded Wallace admitting his role as the shooter to a witness. In April 2016, Wallace pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. A judge subsequently sentenced him to life in prison, with all but 50 years suspended. This sentence was to be served consecutively with a sentence he was already serving for a probation violation, and he received no credit for time already served.
