Deanna Dominick-Dalton, a 21-year-old Black/African American woman from Clayton, Delaware, was found dead on April 27, 2021, inside a residence in the 800 block of McLane Gardens in Smyrna. Authorities said she had apparent gunshot wounds, and her death was discovered during the investigation of another fatal shooting that unfolded earlier that same morning at Smyrna Middle School.
The violence began shortly before 10:30 a.m., when Stephanie Gill and her husband, Llewellyn Gill, arrived
at Smyrna Middle School to pick up their daughter for a medical appointment. Investigators said the couple got into a verbal argument outside the vehicle. The confrontation escalated when Llewellyn Gill pulled Stephanie back into the vehicle and shot her. Stephanie was pronounced dead in the school parking lot, and the school was placed on lockdown as police began searching for the shooter.
After fleeing the school, Llewellyn Gill left in the vehicle he and Stephanie had arrived in, then switched to another vehicle registered to him that had been parked nearby. Troopers spotted him around 11:00 a.m. near Route 13 and Route 42, and a pursuit followed. The chase crossed into Maryland and ended near Galena, where authorities said Gill shot himself and crashed. He was taken to a Maryland hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
As investigators worked through the school shooting, they learned there might be another victim connected to Stephanie Gill. That information led police to McLane Gardens in Smyrna for a welfare check on Deanna Dominick-Dalton, who was described by authorities as an acquaintance of Stephanie. Officers entered the residence and found Deanna dead inside with apparent gunshot wounds. Her body was turned over to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science for autopsy.
Authorities identified Llewellyn Gill, 47, of Hartly, Delaware, as the suspect in the double homicide. Police said they believed the deaths were part of a murder-suicide, and they reported no ongoing threat to the public. Because Gill died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the police pursuit, there were no arrests, criminal charges, trial proceedings, or convictions connected to Deanna’s killing. The case was instead handled as a homicide investigation with the suspected gunman deceased.
