Jonair Pollard, a 29-year-old Black/African American male from Dover, Delaware, was killed on the afternoon of Saturday, May 25, 2024, after gunfire broke out in the Capital Green area of Dover. Police said the call came in at about 4:22 p.m. for a shooting near New Castle Avenue and East Water Street. When officers arrived, they found Pollard suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper body.
He was still alive when emergency help reached him, and he was taken to Bayhealth Kent Campus for treatment, but he was later pronounced dead from his injuries.
The shooting quickly became a homicide investigation. At first, authorities had not publicly released Pollard's name while family notifications were being made, and detectives were still working to identify a suspect and determine a motive. The location, near New Castle Avenue and East Water Street, placed the violence in the Capital Green section of Dover, where police began gathering information about what led to the fatal encounter.
By the next day, investigators said they had identified 59-year-old William Mills of Dover as the person responsible for the shooting. On May 26, 2024, members of the Dover Police Department's Special Operations Response Team executed a search warrant at a residence in the 400 block of East Wind Drive in Dover. Mills was taken into custody there without incident and brought to the Dover Police Department for processing and arraignment.
Mills was charged with Murder First Degree, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, and Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited. After his arrest, he was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on $250,000 cash bail. Authorities emphasized that Mills was presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Publicly available reports did not provide a detailed motive for the shooting or describe the relationship, if any, between Pollard and Mills. The available information centers on the rapid progression of the case: Pollard was shot on May 25, died at the hospital, and within roughly a day detectives had named Mills as the suspect, obtained a search warrant, arrested him, and filed murder and firearm-related charges.
