Abel Rivera-Mojica, a 35-year-old White/Caucasian male from Wilmington, Delaware, was fatally shot during a violent Fourth of July night on the city's West Side. The shooting happened at about 9:01 p.m. on Saturday, July 4, 2020, in the 300 block of North Clayton Street, where Wilmington police responded after gunfire broke out. What had reportedly been a holiday gathering or block-party atmosphere turned into a crime scene when officers arrived and found Rivera-Mojica critically wounded.
Rivera-Mojica was rushed to a local hospital, but he did not survive his injuries. Some public records and memorial sources list his death as July 5, 2020, while obituary notices state that he passed away unexpectedly on July 4, reflecting the late-night timing of the shooting and its aftermath. A second victim, a 16-year-old boy, was also shot during the same incident and was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Public reports described Rivera-Mojica, known as “Molly,” as a Wilmington resident who had attended St. Mark's High School, where he played basketball. His obituary remembered him as an avid Dallas Cowboys fan and an “easy-going gentle giant,” leaving behind his parents, siblings, extended family, and friends who mourned him after the sudden violence.
The shooting was investigated by Wilmington police as a fatal shooting, and authorities asked anyone with information to contact Detective Steven Bender or Delaware Crime Stoppers. Online public reporting available on the case does not identify a named suspect, and no publicly available source found reported an arrest, charges, trial, plea, or conviction connected to Rivera-Mojica's killing. As reflected in the available reports, the case remained centered on the search for information from witnesses or anyone who knew what happened that night on North Clayton Street.
