Hakeem Smalls, a 29-year-old Black man, was fatally shot late on September 27, 2019, in Wilmington, Delaware. Although early information listed him as 25, later official records from the Delaware Department of Justice identified him as 29 at the time of his death. The shooting unfolded near 25th and Monroe streets, in the 2500 block of North Monroe Street, shortly before midnight.
At approximately 11:39 p.m., Wilmington police officers responded to reports of gunfire and found Smalls
suffering from serious wounds. He was rushed from the scene to Christiana Hospital, but doctors were unable to save him. What initially appeared publicly as another late-night shooting would later be revealed as a robbery that ended in murder.
Investigators eventually determined that Smalls had been confronted at gunpoint by Dashawn Daley. Smalls had legally purchased a. 380-caliber pistol only a few weeks before the encounter. During the robbery, Daley took that weapon from him, shot him twice and fled, leaving Smalls mortally wounded. The stolen firearm and the circumstances surrounding the robbery became central pieces of the investigation.
The case was originally assigned to Wilmington police Detective Matthew Reiss. Despite investigative efforts, no immediate arrest was announced, and the killing remained unresolved for nearly four years. Reiss continued working the case with members of the Wilmington Police Department's Cold Case Unit, including investigator Steven Rizzo and Detective Devon Jones. Their continued examination of the evidence eventually led police to identify Daley as the suspected gunman.
On August 14, 2023, investigators presented the case to a New Castle County grand jury, which returned an indictment against Daley. He was already being held at the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on an unrelated matter when authorities formally charged him in Smalls' death. The original charges included first-degree murder, first-degree murder during the commission of a felony, first-degree robbery, first-degree reckless endangering and four counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. After his arraignment, he remained jailed on $1,275,000 cash-only bail.
The prosecution eventually ended without a trial. On May 15, 2024, Daley pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The plea also resolved a probation violation that had been pending when he was arrested in connection with the killing. By admitting guilt, Daley accepted responsibility for robbing Smalls, taking his legally owned handgun and using deadly force against him.
Under the plea agreement, Daley faced a mandatory minimum of 18 years in prison, with the possibility of a sentence extending as high as life imprisonment plus an additional 25 years. The guilty plea brought a formal resolution to a homicide that had remained cold for years and confirmed that Smalls had not been killed in a random exchange of gunfire, but during a deliberate armed robbery. The eventual arrest and conviction were the result of a prolonged investigation that continued long after the night Smalls was taken from the North Monroe Street neighborhood.
