Justin T. McDermott was an 18-year-old Black male whose life ended in a sudden act of gun violence during the early morning of November 9, 2017, in Wilmington, Delaware. Shortly after midnight, Wilmington police officers were dispatched to the 500 block of South Franklin Street, near Kosciuszko Park, following a report of a shooting. When officers arrived at approximately 12:15 a.m., they found Justin lying on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to his head.
Justin was still alive when emergency personnel reached him, but his condition was critical. He was rushed from the scene to Christiana Hospital, where medical personnel attempted to save him. The injury proved fatal, and he died later that morning. What began as a late-night police response had become a homicide investigation, leaving his family and friends to confront the loss of someone who had only recently reached adulthood.
Those who knew Justin remembered him for the humor and energy he brought into their lives. His obituary described how much he enjoyed making people laugh, particularly through a dance his family affectionately remembered. He left behind his mother, father, sisters, grandparents, a cousin and his dog, Remi. Private funeral and burial arrangements were made as his loved ones mourned a young life taken before he had the opportunity to build his future.
Public reports released immediately after the shooting did not identify a possible motive or describe what happened in the moments before the gunfire. They also did not report whether witnesses saw the person responsible leaving the area, whether a vehicle was involved or whether investigators recovered a weapon. Police appealed for information while detectives worked to reconstruct the circumstances that brought Justin to the sidewalk on South Franklin Street shortly after midnight.
No reliable public record located identifies a suspect in Justin’s killing, and no publicly reported arrest, criminal charge, trial or conviction could be found in connection with his death. The absence of a named suspect means there is no verified account of who fired the fatal shot or why Justin was targeted. His death therefore remains publicly unresolved, with the available record ending largely where the investigation began: at a nighttime shooting scene near Kosciuszko Park and a family left without a complete explanation for what happened.
