Jermaine Black, a 31-year-old Black / African American male from Wilmington, Delaware, was killed on April 23, 2021, in a double shooting that also took the life of 31-year-old James Manlove-McKnight, also identified in some early reporting as James McKnight. The shooting unfolded on a Friday night in Wilmington, with police reporting that officers were sent to the scene at about 8:40 p.m. for a shooting incident.
The Wilmington Police Department’s cold case listing places the shooting in the 300 block of West 23rd Street, while an early news report described the location as the 300 block of Concord Avenue.
When officers arrived, they found both Jermaine Black and James Manlove-McKnight suffering from gunshot wounds. The two men were alive when they were located, but their injuries were fatal. Early reporting said both were transported to a hospital, where they later died. Their deaths turned what began as an emergency response to gunfire into a double homicide investigation.
Jermaine was also known as “Otis.” Obituary information described him as a Wilmington man with close family ties, the fiancé of Chanel Taylor and the father of three children: London Renee Black, Jermaine Verndell Black Jr., and Jaxson Verndell Black. He worked for the City of Wilmington as a Scofflaw Enforcer, commonly known as a “booter,” a job tied to identifying and immobilizing vehicles with unpaid fines. His death left his family preparing funeral services less than two weeks later, with services scheduled in Wilmington on May 7, 2021, followed by burial at Silverbrook Cemetery.
In the years after the shooting, the case did not close with an announced arrest. Wilmington Police later placed the deaths of Jermaine Black and James Manlove-McKnight under the department’s Cold Case Unit, which handles unsolved cases after earlier investigative leads have been exhausted. The department has continued to describe the investigation as ongoing and has asked the public for help.
As of the available public information, police have not released the name of a suspect or suspects in Jermaine Black’s killing. No arrest, charges, trial, plea, or conviction has been publicly reported in connection with the double homicide. The most recent public appeal said investigators continue to reexamine evidence and pursue new information, while asking anyone with knowledge of the shooting to contact the Wilmington Police Department’s Cold Case Unit or provide anonymous information through Delaware Crime Stoppers.
