Marell Lowe, a 19-year-old Black/African American male, was killed on the night of August 14, 2022, in Wilmington, Delaware. Police were called at about 9:44 p.m. to the 2300 block of North Monroe Street for a reported shooting, where they found Lowe suffering from gunshot wounds. He did not survive his injuries. Court records later placed the fatal encounter in the area of 23rd and Monroe Streets, with state prosecutors describing the shooting as occurring in the area of West 23rd Street.
Investigators said the case quickly became a homicide investigation handled by Wilmington Police Detective Justin Kane. Surveillance video became central to the case. According to court records, cameras at a Citgo gas station on Concord Avenue and Monroe Street showed a group of people entering the store around 9:29 p.m. The group, made up of several males and two females, later left the gas station and moved through the area. Additional cameras tracked them near Concord Liquors and then into the 2300 block of North Monroe Street shortly before the shooting.
The footage later reviewed in court showed Lowe wearing a reflective vest. Investigators said the video captured the shooting itself. Jhaivon Carter was identified as one of the shooters and was described as advancing toward Lowe from near the northwest corner of 23rd and Monroe Streets before opening fire. A second shooter, later identified as Carter’s younger cousin Xavier Carter-Baird, fired from a different location. The two shooters were described as being about 25 to 30 feet apart. Lowe was struck multiple times, and court records stated that the fatal injury was a gunshot wound to the head.
The first arrest came within days. Police identified a 15-year-old juvenile male as a suspect, obtained warrants, and took him into custody without incident on August 19, 2022. He was charged at the time with first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a person prohibited. He was arraigned in Justice of the Peace Court 11 and held at the New Castle County Detention Center on $999,000 cash-only bail. That juvenile was later publicly identified in court records and state prosecution announcements as Xavier Carter-Baird, of Milford.
Investigators then identified a second suspect, 18-year-old Jhaivon Carter, of Wilmington. Carter was arrested without incident by the United States Marshals Service Task Force on August 31, 2022. He was charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. After arraignment in Justice of the Peace Court 11, Carter was committed to the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on $600,000 cash-only bail.
As the case moved through court, Carter-Baird sought to have his charges transferred to Family Court because he had been just under 15 and a half years old at the time of the shooting. A reverse amenability hearing was held in January 2024, and the Superior Court later denied the transfer request, keeping the case in adult court. The court’s discussion of the evidence described the surveillance trail leading up to the shooting, Carter’s alleged firing position, Carter-Baird’s alleged firing position near a fire hydrant, and the recovery of seven shell casings near where Carter was seen firing. The court also noted that no shell casings were recovered from Carter-Baird’s location.
The prosecutions ended with convictions in 2026. On February 26, 2026, Xavier Carter-Baird pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless endangering and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Prosecutors later said evidence showed Carter-Baird fired shots during the encounter but did not strike Lowe. On March 12, 2026, Jhaivon Carter was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Prosecutors said Carter fired first and hit Lowe, causing his death.
By the end of the case, authorities had publicly framed Lowe’s killing as an act of gun violence solved through surveillance evidence, police investigation, and prosecution in New Castle County Superior Court. Carter was held responsible as the person whose gunfire killed Lowe, while Carter-Baird was held accountable for firing during the same confrontation even though prosecutors said his shots did not hit the victim.
