Ty'Mire S. “Block” Selby was a 12-year-old Black male whose life ended after a gun discharged inside a Wilmington residence on August 3, 2018. Shortly before 10:00 that Friday morning, Wilmington police and emergency personnel were called to a home in the 1300 block of East 27th Street. Officers entered the residence and found Ty'Mire suffering from a serious gunshot wound.
Paramedics rushed him to Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in an effort to save him.
Despite the emergency medical treatment he received, Ty'Mire was pronounced dead later that day. Police secured the residence and began examining how the firearm had been discharged, initially treating the circumstances as an active death investigation rather than assuming that another person had intentionally shot him.
As investigators reconstructed what happened inside the home, the available evidence indicated that the shooting was accidental and apparently self-inflicted. Authorities reported that Ty'Mire may have unintentionally shot himself while handling the weapon. The tragedy was therefore not classified as a murder, and investigators did not announce that a gunman, intruder, or other assailant was being sought.
No suspect was identified, and no arrest, criminal charge, trial, or conviction was publicly reported in connection with Ty'Mire's death. The case instead centered on determining how he obtained access to the firearm and confirming that the fatal discharge was accidental. Public reports did not identify the gun's owner or indicate that an adult was prosecuted for allowing Ty'Mire to gain access to it.
Born in Newark on July 2, 2006, Ty'Mire was the son of Shannon Selby and Natasha Brown. He was preparing to begin sixth grade and had attended New Castle Elementary School. Family memories described him as a Philadelphia Eagles fan and a familiar young presence along Governor Printz Boulevard, where he sold bottles of water with his siblings and friends. Those everyday details became part of how his family remembered him after a single moment inside the East 27th Street home brought his childhood to an abrupt end.
