Elijah Kellum, a 15-year-old Black male from Dover, Delaware, was killed on the night of April 14, 2024, after gunfire erupted near South Governors Avenue and West Reed Street in Dover. Police said the call came in at about 8:33 p.m., sending officers to the area where they found Elijah suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene, turning what began as an evening walk through the neighborhood into a homicide investigation.
According to police accounts, Elijah had
been walking in the area when a group of suspects ambushed him and fired multiple shots. The description of the shooting suggested more than one person was involved, but police publicly identified Breshawn Best of Dover as one of the people responsible. Best was located after the shooting, taken into custody without incident, and brought to the Dover Police Department for processing and arraignment.
Best, who was 19 at the time of his arrest, was charged with first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of ammunition by a person prohibited, carrying a concealed deadly weapon, and first-degree conspiracy. He was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on $1,086,000 cash bail. Public reports available online identified him as an arrested suspect, but did not show a trial outcome or conviction.
The shooting appeared to unfold against the backdrop of a violent day in Dover. Reports citing court documents said Elijah’s death was connected to an earlier fatal shooting that happened that same Sunday morning near Irish Mike’s on West Loockerman Street, where Syncere Friends was killed and another person was wounded. Those reports described Elijah’s killing as retaliatory in nature, adding another layer to the investigation and suggesting that the violence from the first shooting carried into the night.
While police said a group ambushed Elijah, the online reports located publicly named only Best as an arrested suspect in Elijah’s case. The charges against him included conspiracy, which aligned with investigators’ description of multiple suspects, but no additional named arrests were found in the available online reporting.
