Petya V. Novakova, 31, a White/Caucasian female from Newark, Delaware, was killed in the early hours of September 21, 2023, inside a home on the unit block of Leader Drive in the Newark Oaks community. Police said the call came in at about 12:43 a.m. after a wounded man contacted 911 and reported that he had been shot inside the residence and that the shooter was still there.
When officers arrived, they found the scene still active and dangerous, with one injured survivor outside or accessible to police and the gunman still inside the home.
Investigators later said the shooter was a 34-year-old man who had arrived home and confronted Novakova, who lived at the residence, along with her guest, a 34-year-old man. During that confrontation, the gunman opened fire with a handgun, striking both of them. The surviving man remained able to summon help, and officers moved in under the belief that the shooter was still armed and inside. Novakova was found inside the home and pronounced dead at the scene by New Castle County Paramedics, while the wounded man was rescued and taken to Christiana Medical Center, where he was reported in stable condition.
As police surrounded the home, the situation turned into a barricade response. Officers saw the suspect through a first-floor window armed with a firearm, and police said he fired a shot through the window toward officers. A New Castle County officer, described by police as a one-year veteran of the division, returned fire. Crisis Management Group units responded, including SWAT, crisis negotiators, and explosive ordnance personnel, while officers attempted to make contact with the armed suspect. A local report said negotiators tried repeatedly to reach him by phone and through a public address system, but those efforts did not produce communication.
SWAT officers eventually entered the residence to rescue the victims and secure the home. They removed the wounded male victim, found Novakova deceased, and later located the suspect dead inside with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police characterized the case as an apparent murder-suicide, though the agency continued to describe the investigation as active while detectives, professional standards investigators, and the Delaware Department of Justice Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust reviewed the evidence, including the officer-involved exchange of gunfire.
No public source I found identified the suspect by name, and no arrest, criminal charges, trial, or conviction followed in the public reporting because the suspected shooter died at the scene. The case appears to have ended with Novakova's death, the survival of the second shooting victim, and the death of the alleged gunman inside the home. In the days after the shooting, people close to Novakova described her as an infectious, selfless person with deep love for the people around her, and a fundraiser was created to help with funeral costs in both the United States and Bulgaria as well as care for her two pugs, Sofia and Leo.
