Cornelius Wright, a 37-year-old Black / African American male, was shot on the evening of December 31, 2019, in New Castle, Delaware, as the final hours of the year were unfolding. Around 6:49 p.m., patrol officers with the New Castle County Division of Police were sent to the unit block of Willings Way in the Ashton Condominiums community after a report that a shooting had just occurred.
When officers arrived, they found Wright inside a parked car, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
He was still alive when first responders reached him, and he was rushed to a local hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries. Despite the attempt to save him, Wright was pronounced deceased at the hospital. What began as an emergency call at an apartment community quickly became a homicide investigation, and detectives from the New Castle County Criminal Investigation Unit’s Homicide Squad took over the case.
In the days after the shooting, police publicly identified Wright as the victim and continued asking for help from anyone who might have had information, including possible video connected to the shooting. The location, the timing on New Year’s Eve, and the fact that Wright was found wounded in a parked vehicle all became central pieces of the investigation as detectives worked to determine who was responsible and why the violence happened.
The investigation eventually led detectives to Ervin Christy, Jr., of Chestertown, Maryland, who was identified by police as the suspect. A New Castle County grand jury indicted Christy on February 3, 2020. The charges listed against him included Murder First Degree, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, Attempted Robbery First Degree, Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and Conspiracy Second Degree.
Christy was arrested on February 6, 2020, in Philadelphia. New Castle County detectives, Philadelphia police officers, and federal agents were involved in locating and taking him into custody. After the arrest, police said he was being held without bail while awaiting extradition to Delaware. Authorities described the investigation as still ongoing at that time, even after the arrest, and continued asking anyone with information to contact detectives.
The public information available online shows that Wright’s death was treated as a homicide and that investigators believed the shooting was connected to an attempted robbery and conspiracy, based on the charges brought against Christy. The available online reports clearly identify Christy as the arrested and indicted suspect, but they do not provide a detailed public account of a completed trial, conviction, acquittal, plea, or final sentencing outcome in the materials located.
