Francis Miller, a 34-year-old Black man, was fatally shot in Wilmington, Delaware, on the night of June 16, 2020. Police were called around 9:08 p.m. to the 1700 block of North Locust Street, where officers found a 34-year-old gunshot victim who was rushed to the hospital and later died of his injuries. The location sits near the intersection of North Locust Street and Vandever Avenue, a corridor that has seen repeated gunfire incidents before and since.
Accounts preserved online describe a confrontation shortly before the shooting: Miller reportedly challenged people setting off firecrackers outside his home after one nearly struck his infant child. Those nearby remembered him as a ï good guy,ï the wrong person to be harmed.
The Wilmington Police Department announced the homicide the next morning and said the investigation was active, asking anyone with information to contact Detective Mackenzie Kirlin. Subsequent public postings and local crime roundups reference the incident but do not record any suspect identifications or arrests tied to Millerï s killing. Available police notices and regional coverage contain no follow-up naming a suspect, indicating the case remains unsolved.
Public memorial pages created after the shooting list Miller by name, age, city, and date of death, linking back to the original Wilmington police alert. Those entries, together with the initial advisories, are the primary online record of the crime and underscore the absence of announced arrests in the years since.
