Do you know who murdered 17 year old Jordan Ellerbe in 2015? Jordan Ellerbe, a 16-year-old Black male from Wilmington, Delaware, was killed on January 23, 2015, in a shooting on North Broom Street in Wilmington’s Hilltop neighborhood. Online reports describe him as sitting on a porch or at a friend’s house that Friday night when gunfire erupted. He was shot and killed, and two other people were wounded in the same incident.
Family notices identified him as Jordan Keaire Dwayne Ellerbe, the son of Sheeron Fuller and Jonathan Ellerbe, and his death left relatives, classmates, and friends mourning a teenager whose life had ended suddenly in the streets of his own city.
For years, Jordan’s killing remained unsolved while the effects of it continued to spread through Wilmington. Authorities later said the shooting became the spark for a violent feud between two rival groups, Shoot to Kill and Only My Brothers. Investigators and prosecutors said Jordan himself was not gang-affiliated, but after his death his name became tied to the escalating conflict, appearing in symbols, gestures, graffiti, and social media references as the violence continued. In the months and years that followed, the feud was blamed for additional shootings and deaths in Wilmington, including violence that reached people mourning Jordan and other young victims.
Nearly eight years after the shooting, police and prosecutors announced a major break in the case. In January 2023, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and Wilmington Police Chief Wilfredo Campos said Oliver “Butter” Henry, a Wilmington man, had been arrested and charged in Jordan’s murder. Henry was 24 at the time of the arrest and was accused of first-degree murder in Jordan’s death. He also faced three counts of attempted first-degree murder connected to the shooting or attempted shooting of Benjamin Smith and Troy Harvin. Officials said the arrest came after an investigation that had continued since the day Jordan was killed.
The case moved forward in 2024 with a conviction. Oliver Henry, then 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Jordan Ellerbe’s killing. Prosecutors said the plea made him responsible for the January 2015 murder and that he faced a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. The conviction brought a measure of legal resolution to a case that had haunted Jordan’s family and had become part of a much larger story of retaliatory violence in Wilmington.
