Donnell Seeney, a 50-year-old Black/African American man, was shot on the night of July 21, 2025, in Wilmington’s Hilltop neighborhood. Police were dispatched at approximately 10:02 p.m. to the 700 block of North Franklin Street after reports of gunfire and found him critically wounded. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries. Early reports identified him as being from Dover, and obituary notices later described his deep roots in Wilmington.
Detectives spent weeks developing leads and, on September 2, 2025, a New Castle County Grand Jury indicted 30-year-old Nicodemus Morris on charges including first-degree murder and related weapons offenses in connection with Seeney’s killing. Wilmington police publicly appealed for help locating Morris soon after the indictment.
In late October, authorities announced that a man had been taken into custody in connection with the July homicide, following investigative work that traced the case back to the shooting on North Franklin Street. According to subsequent reporting, Morris was arrested without incident as detectives executed a search warrant; city police advisories around that time referenced an arrest tied to the July fatal shooting.
