Naithan T. Grzybowski was a 19-year-old White male from New Castle, Delaware, whose life ended in a fatal shooting in Wilmington on September 3, 2019. Shortly after noon that Tuesday, Wilmington police were sent to the 400 block of East 35th Street in the city’s Eastlawn neighborhood after gunfire was reported. Officers arrived at approximately 12:03 p.m. and found Grzybowski suffering from a gunshot wound. Early reports indicated that he had been found inside a vehicle.
Despite the emergency response, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Known to relatives and friends as Nate, Grzybowski had been born on May 28, 2000, and graduated from William Penn High School in 2018. His obituary remembered him as a devoted family member with an infectious smile and a love of baseball, a sport he played while wearing the number 21. He had already endured the death of his mother, Melisa Grzybowski, and his sudden killing left his father, siblings, grandparents and extended family mourning another devastating loss.
The shooting initially remained under investigation, with police releasing few details about what led to the attack or whether Grzybowski had been specifically targeted. Authorities asked anyone with information to contact Wilmington Police Detective Mackenzie Kirlin. The case would eventually become part of a much broader investigation into violent gang activity in Wilmington, during which detectives examined a series of shootings and killings connected to members or associates of local street gangs.
Investigators ultimately identified Davon Walker as the person responsible for Grzybowski’s murder. According to Delaware prosecutors, detectives linked Walker to the killing through evidence that included surveillance recordings, social-media material and ballistics analysis. The investigation also connected Walker to the October 2020 murders of Tommier Dendy and Eddie Green in Wilmington, revealing that Grzybowski’s death was one of several violent crimes attributed to him.
Walker was originally accused of first-degree murder in connection with the three killings. Rather than proceeding through a murder trial, he entered a negotiated guilty plea to three counts of second-degree murder, as well as first-degree conspiracy and gang-participation charges. His plea formally resolved the prosecution for Grzybowski’s death and established Walker’s criminal responsibility for the shooting.
In September 2022, Walker was sentenced to 53 years in prison. The conviction and lengthy sentence brought a measure of legal closure after an investigation that had stretched across several years, though it could not undo the loss experienced by Grzybowski’s family. The broader gang prosecution eventually resulted in convictions against all 20 defendants charged in the case, encompassing multiple murders, shootings and firearms offenses throughout Wilmington.
