Khalil Ameer-Bey, a 24-year-old Black male, was killed on July 29, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware, in a shooting that began as an emergency call to police near 9th and Lombard Streets. Officers arrived and found him suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead shortly afterward, ending the life of a young father whose death would remain publicly described as unsolved for years before later becoming part of a much larger gang prosecution.
In the immediate aftermath, the
case appeared to go cold. Wilmington police later renewed their request for help from the public, saying Ameer-Bey had been shot around 1:57 p.m. on the 900 block of Lombard Street. His obituary identified him by his full name, Khalil Nathaniel Ameer-Bey, and said he died at Christiana Hospital on the same date. It also described his family ties, including his parents, siblings, grandmothers, and a young son, giving the case the weight of a family loss behind the police language of gunfire and investigation.
Years later, prosecutors connected Ameer-Bey’s killing to members of a Wilmington-area gang known as Exit 4, also referred to in reporting as The Mag or Magboyz. Delaware authorities said members of the group were tied to a string of violent crimes between January 2020 and December 2024, including multiple murders and attempted murders. Ameer-Bey’s death was listed among those killings, along with the deaths of Carrie Mondell, Latahesia Hill, and Kwamir Wise.
The case against the suspects eventually produced guilty pleas and prison sentences. Nyair Small, of New Castle, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and second-degree conspiracy in connection with Ameer-Bey’s homicide. He was later sentenced to 22 years in prison for multiple convictions connected to the deaths of Ameer-Bey and Carrie Mondell, as well as a May 2023 Middletown shooting in which a home occupied by two adults and two young children was struck by gunfire. Because Small was already serving an additional 10-year sentence for another May 2023 shooting solved as part of the investigation, officials said his total prison time amounted to 32 years.
Nasiir Watson, of Wilmington, also pleaded guilty in connection with Ameer-Bey’s death. Prosecutors said Watson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy, and receiving stolen property for the homicide. He was sentenced on June 1, 2026, to 21 years in prison for convictions tied to Ameer-Bey’s killing and a separate April 2021 shooting. In that later case, authorities said Watson and Maurice Harrigan exited a vehicle and opened fire at a victim and two others who ran away. Prosecutors said Watson possessed a 7.62 firearm in that incident, and that the same weapon was later used by Philip Harris in the 2022 killing of Carrie Mondell.
The broader prosecution also included other Exit 4 members, though not all were charged specifically with Ameer-Bey’s homicide. Daeshawn Shields was sentenced to 13 years for crimes connected mainly to the Mondell case and other violence. Philip Harris was convicted in connection with Mondell’s killing and received two life sentences plus additional prison time. Prosecutors described the sentences as the result of a lengthy investigation by Wilmington police and the Delaware Department of Justice, one that folded Ameer-Bey’s 2020 killing into a larger pattern of gang-related shootings, stolen firearms, retaliatory violence, and murders.
By the time the prosecutions were announced, the story of Ameer-Bey’s death had shifted from a cold-case appeal to a resolved part of a sweeping criminal case. The public record does not describe a full trial over Ameer-Bey’s murder; instead, the available reports show that the homicide was addressed through guilty pleas by Small and Watson. Small admitted to manslaughter and conspiracy, while Watson admitted to second-degree murder and related charges, giving prosecutors convictions tied directly to the shooting that took Ameer-Bey’s life at 9th and Lombard Streets in Wilmington.
