Corey Mumford, an 18-year-old Black/African American male from Laurel, Delaware, was killed on April 14, 2023, after an ordinary Friday afternoon at the Wexford Village Apartments turned violent. Around 2:40 p.m., Laurel police were called to the 100 block of Sunset Drive for a shooting. Officers found Mumford behind one of the apartment buildings suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
They began CPR and tried to keep him alive until emergency medical services arrived, but Mumford was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. Delaware State Police later identified him as the homicide victim and took over the investigation through its Homicide Unit.
Investigators later described the killing as part of a coordinated arrival at the apartment complex. Court records said that, minutes before Mumford was shot, a three-car caravan left the Hollybrook Apartments complex in Laurel and traveled to Wexford Village. Two of the vehicles arrived just before the shooting and backed into parking spaces near buildings 102 and 103. A person at the complex ran toward the rear of building 105 and warned that “Jha's coming,” with “Jha” later identified as Jhalir Henry's nickname and “spinning” described in court as meaning shooting. Soon afterward, two men got out of the recently parked cars, gunfire erupted, and Mumford, who was behind building 105, was struck nine times by bullets from a 9-millimeter Luger handgun.
Police first developed Jhalir Henry, 27, of Delmar, Delaware, as one of the suspects. On April 21, 2023, members of the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office and Salisbury Police Department executed a search warrant at a residence in the 30000 block of Johnson Road in Salisbury, Maryland, where Henry was arrested without incident. Authorities said he was held in Maryland pending extradition to Delaware, where he faced charges of first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and first-degree conspiracy.
A second arrest followed in May 2023. Delaware State Police identified Donregus Holland, 28, of Hurlock, Maryland, as another suspect in the homicide. On May 18, 2023, members of the Maryland Marshals Task Force and Maryland State Police executed a search warrant at a residence on Andrews Street in Hurlock, Maryland, and arrested Holland without incident. He was also held in Maryland awaiting extradition to Delaware, where police said he would face first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited, and first-degree conspiracy charges. At that time, police said the Homicide Unit was still investigating and working to identify others connected to the case.
The case eventually centered on three accused men: Henry, Holland, and Shyheem Latham-Purnell. A grand jury indicted all three on charges including first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited, and first-degree conspiracy. Court findings later identified Latham-Purnell as the shooter who fired at Mumford behind building 105, while Henry was accused of participating in the coordinated shooting even though the court record indicated he did not fire the shots that killed Mumford.
Before trial, Latham-Purnell pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Henry and Holland waived a jury and went through a bench trial. On June 24, 2024, the judge acquitted Holland of all charges but found Henry guilty of all charges. Henry later sought a judgment of acquittal, arguing in part that the state had not proved he specifically intended to kill Mumford and that he had withdrawn from the crime. The court rejected that argument, finding that Henry had been an active participant from the beginning of the coordinated trip to Wexford Village through the gunfire and the group's escape afterward.
Henry was sentenced to life in prison, and the Delaware Supreme Court later affirmed his conviction. The high court concluded that Henry could be held responsible under accomplice liability even if Latham-Purnell was the person identified as Mumford's shooter. The court pointed to the caravan, the coordinated parking, the simultaneous movement of the shooters, Henry's gunfire, his movement toward the rear area of building 105, and the group leaving together as evidence that Henry helped facilitate the shooting that ended Mumford's life.
