Kirk Durrell Flowers Jr., a 31-year-old Black male, was caught in the violence that broke out during the Fourth of July holiday in the Rosegate area of New Castle County, Delaware. What should have been a summer night around Rosegate Park became a homicide investigation after gunfire erupted during a large gathering near the park. Police later said three adult men suffering from gunshot wounds had been taken to a local hospital, and investigators worked backward from the wounded victims to determine that the shooting had happened in the Rosegate community.
Flowers was one of the three men struck by the gunfire. While two others survived their injuries, Flowers did not. Authorities said that one of the victims succumbed to his wounds, and on July 6, 2020, New Castle County Police publicly identified him as Kirk Flowers. First State Update reported that he had been shot and killed at Rosegate Park on July 4, while obituary information listed his date of death as July 5, reflecting that he died after the shooting.
In the days after the shooting, New Castle County detectives treated the case as a homicide and emphasized that Flowers was not the only person harmed that night. Police Colonel Vaughn M. Bond Jr. described the killing as a senseless loss of life and said the department was working to identify the suspect or suspects responsible for killing Flowers and injuring two others. The police appeal made clear that investigators believed community help would be necessary to move the case forward.
No public online sources located for this synopsis reported an arrest, named a suspect, or described charges, a trial, or a conviction in connection with Flowers' killing. The available police and news reports instead show the case in its early investigative stage, with detectives asking witnesses or anyone with information to contact the New Castle County Police Department or Crime Stoppers, and noting that tips could be made anonymously.
