Trevor Alston McClements was an 18-year-old Black male from Seaford, Delaware, whose life was cut short only weeks after he graduated from Seaford High School. Remembered by his family as fun-loving and adventurous, Trevor had grown up playing Little League baseball before developing a passion for soccer. On the night of July 9, 2018, his future was abruptly taken from him during a violent confrontation at the Carvel Gardens Apartments in Laurel.
At approximately 11:44 p.m., Laurel police officers and Delaware State Police troopers were sent to the area of the apartment complex's 200 building following reports of a shooting. Investigators determined that an altercation involving several people had broken out near the building. During the disturbance, Trevor was shot in the head. Responding officers found him lying on the ground with the devastating wound as the people involved in the confrontation scattered from the scene.
Emergency personnel rushed Trevor by ambulance to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital. Because of the severity of his condition, he was later flown to Christiana Medical Center, where doctors continued fighting to save him. Trevor remained critically injured until he died from the gunshot wound on July 13, 2018, several days after the shooting. Although the violent encounter occurred on July 9, the available police and news reports identify July 13 as the date he succumbed to his injuries.
Another man connected to the disturbance, described at the time as being 22 years old, left the apartment complex before police arrived. He later appeared at Nanticoke Memorial Hospital with cuts to his face and hand. Medical personnel treated him and released him. Authorities did not publicly identify him as Trevor's shooter, and the initial investigation described the gunman as unknown.
The Delaware State Police Homicide Unit assumed responsibility for the case and began working to identify everyone who had been present during the confrontation. Investigators initially sought the public's help identifying two women and one man who were believed to have information connected to the killing. Police also attempted to locate a silver or light-colored Chevrolet Impala from approximately the 2012 through 2015 model years. Those individuals and the vehicle were treated as important leads while detectives reconstructed the events surrounding the shooting.
The investigation continued for approximately six months before police publicly identified Dwayne A. Dotson of Salisbury, Maryland, as the suspected gunman. In January 2019, Delaware State Police announced that detectives had obtained a warrant charging Dotson with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Dotson was being held without bail in Accomack County, Virginia, while awaiting extradition to Delaware.
Dotson was subsequently returned to Delaware and jailed in connection with Trevor's killing. Contemporary reporting indicated that he was held on a cash-only bond exceeding $1 million while facing the murder and firearm charges. Publicly accessible reports confirm his identification, arrest, extradition and prosecution on those charges, but reliable online sources located for this synopsis do not clearly document the final disposition of the case, including whether Dotson was convicted at trial, entered a plea or received a sentence. The arrest nevertheless transformed the investigation from a months-long search for an unknown shooter into a criminal case centered on a named defendant accused of taking Trevor's life.
