Do you know who murdered Shawn Lockhart in 2017? Shawn Aris Lockhart, a 30-year-old Black male, was killed in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 5, 2017, the same day he turned 30. Known to many as “Shizz,” he had roots in Chester, Pennsylvania, and built much of his adult life around work, family, and barbering. His obituary described him as a 2005 graduate of Christiana High School who later attended Delaware Technical Community College, worked at Freightliner in Swedesboro, New Jersey, and pursued barber training at American Beauty
Academy in Wilmington. He became a licensed barber and was remembered as a skilled professional at Cheese's Hair Studio.
The shooting happened in the early morning hours, around 1:30 a.m., at a residence in the 800 block of North Jackson Street in Wilmington. According to police accounts reported at the time, Lockhart was inside when he heard a noise coming from the rear of the home. What began as a moment of concern inside his apartment turned deadly when he went toward the back area to see what was happening.
Investigators later said someone was trying to gain access through a third-floor door connected to his bedroom and an outside deck. Lockhart went to the door and tried to keep the intruders from getting inside. As he confronted the danger at the doorway, shots were fired by the suspects. He was struck, with early reports saying he was hit in the torso, and he was fatally wounded inside the home.
Police and paramedics responded and tried to revive him, but Lockhart did not survive. The killing left family, friends, clients, and the wider Wilmington community grieving a man remembered not only for his work as a barber, but also for the personal relationships he built with people around him. Memorial information and public remembrances described him as a father and as someone whose life was closely tied to family and community.
No public online source located identified any arrested suspect by name, and no public record found in the reviewed reporting described charges, a trial, or a conviction in the case. The suspects were described only generally as the people who tried to enter the residence and fired the fatal shots. Authorities continued to treat the case as an open investigation, later highlighting it as a cold case and asking the public for information.
By 2020, Wilmington police and partnering investigators were still seeking help from anyone who knew what happened. Public notices directed tips to the Wilmington Police Department Cold Case Unit, an assigned investigator, ATF personnel, and Delaware Crime Stoppers. Based on the available online reporting, Lockhart's death remains an unsolved homicide, with investigators still seeking the names of the people who came to his back door that morning and opened fire.
