Do you know who murdered 20 year old Keanan Samuels in 2017? Keanan Samuels, a 20-year-old Black male, was home in Wilmington, Delaware, for Christmas break from Benedict College in South Carolina when he was killed on the night of December 16, 2017. What should have been a brief return home for the holidays became part of a larger wave of grief in the city. That evening, Keanan had gone to a vigil for his friend Barry White, a 19-year-old who had been shot and killed months earlier on Wilmington's north side.
The gathering was meant to remember
another young life lost to gun violence, but the night turned violent itself. Around 7:45 p.m., gunfire erupted near Vandever Avenue and North Locust Street, with reports placing Keanan in the area of the 2100 block of North Locust Street or the 800 block of Vandever Avenue. Authorities said shots were fired into the crowd gathered for the vigil. Keanan was struck by gunfire, with reports describing wounds to his neck and face area. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but he died later that night.
Keanan's death hit his family especially hard because he was described as a college freshman with his future still ahead of him. He was the son of Arica Samuels and James Chappell, and his uncle, Allen “Duffy” Samuels, was known in Wilmington for founding Duffy's Hope, a nonprofit focused on helping at-risk youth. In the aftermath, the killing was not only another homicide investigation for Wilmington police, but also a personal tragedy for a family already deeply involved in trying to protect young people from the same violence that took Keanan's life.
Police later described the case as a cold case homicide and asked the public for help. The available public reports do not identify a named suspect, and they indicate that the shooter or shooters remained unidentified. Authorities described “individuals” firing into the crowd, but no public source reviewed reported any arrests, charges, trial, or conviction in Keanan Samuels' killing.
Years after the shooting, Wilmington police continued to seek tips from anyone who knew what happened that night. The case remained framed publicly as an ongoing investigation, with the Cold Case Unit asking for information that could help identify who opened fire at a vigil and killed a young man who had come home from college for the holidays.
