Deshawn Blackwell, a 36-year-old Black male from Seaford, Delaware, was killed in the early hours of March 29, 2023, after a shooting outside the Woodland Mills Apartments complex in the 900 block of Woodland Mills Drive. Around 12:20 to 12:22 a.m., Seaford police were called to the complex for a report of a person who had been shot. When officers arrived, they found Blackwell suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Police said Blackwell had been sitting outside an apartment when an
unknown person, or possibly more than one person, approached him and opened fire. Several rounds were fired, striking him multiple times. After the shooting, the assailant or assailants fled the area on foot, leaving Blackwell critically wounded outside the complex.
Officers began life-saving measures before medical personnel arrived. Blackwell was then taken by ambulance to a local hospital, but he died from his injuries. His death turned the overnight shooting investigation into a homicide case.
The Seaford Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Unit handled the investigation with assistance from the Delaware State Police Major Crimes Unit and Evidence Unit. Early public reports did not name a suspect, and the shooter was described only as an unknown subject who ran from the scene. Available online reporting did not show any publicly announced arrest, charges, trial, or conviction connected to Blackwell’s killing. Police asked anyone with information to contact Seaford investigators or Delaware Crime Stoppers as they continued trying to identify who was responsible.
