Tyrone Sampson, a 35-year-old Black man from Dover, Delaware, was mortally wounded during an early-morning shooting on Saturday, March 30, 2019. At approximately 3:50 a.m., Dover police officers were dispatched to the unit block of Weston Drive after receiving a report of gunfire. When officers arrived, they found Sampson suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper body.
The officers immediately began providing first aid and continued their efforts until emergency medical personnel arrived and transported him to a nearby hospital. Sampson was initially listed in critical condition, leaving investigators and those close to him waiting anxiously as doctors attempted to save his life.
Despite the emergency treatment he received, Sampson did not recover from his injuries. He was pronounced dead at the hospital on Monday, April 1, 2019, two days after the shooting. Although the violent encounter occurred on March 30, the official police account identifies April 1 as his date of death. His death transformed the investigation from an aggravated shooting case into a homicide investigation, and Dover police began working to determine who had fired the fatal shot and what circumstances had led to the gunfire on Weston Drive.
The investigation continued for nearly three months before police announced a major development. On June 18, 2019, members of the United States Marshals Service First State Fugitive Task Force located and arrested 36-year-old Jermaine Brown at an apartment in the Persimmon Tree apartment complex, in the 500 block of Persimmon Tree Lane. Brown was taken into custody without incident. Dover police identified him as the suspect in Sampson's killing and charged him with first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, two counts of possession of a firearm or ammunition by a person prohibited, two counts of first-degree reckless endangering, and criminal mischief. He was committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution in lieu of a $330,500 cash bond.
Another person was arrested when authorities captured Brown. Police said 26-year-old Samantha Randall, a resident of the apartment where Brown was found, was charged with hindering prosecution. Randall was released on her own recognizance after being processed on that single charge. The available public reports establish that Brown was arrested and formally accused of Sampson's murder, but they do not provide a reliable final account of whether the case proceeded to trial, ended in a plea agreement, or resulted in a conviction. The confirmed record therefore ends with Brown facing a first-degree murder charge and several related firearm and endangerment offenses in connection with the shooting that took Tyrone Sampson's life.
