Shamar Lindsay, a 25-year-old Black man from Wilmington, Delaware, was fatally shot after being attacked on the morning of May 24, 2017. At approximately 10:31 a.m., an on-duty Wilmington police officer heard gunfire near the 1200 block of Elm Street in the city’s Hedgeville neighborhood. When the officer entered the block, Lindsay was found on the ground with a gunshot wound to his upper leg.
New Castle County paramedics treated him at the scene before rushing him to Christiana Hospital.
Although the shooting occurred on May 24, Lindsay remained alive long enough to receive hospital treatment and died from his injuries on May 25, 2017. His death was then investigated as a homicide. Lindsay had grown up in Wilmington and attended Glasgow High School. He had hoped to continue his education and become a certified fitness trainer. He enjoyed working out, playing and watching sports, listening to music and spending time with relatives and friends. He was also the father of a son and was remembered by his family as a loving, intelligent and humorous person with a large circle of close relationships.
Police quickly identified Tariq Taylor of Elsmere as the person responsible for the shooting. Investigators determined that Lindsay had been standing in the 1200 block of Elm Street when Taylor shot him. Officers arrested Taylor as he fled from the scene. Along the route Taylor had taken, police discovered a loaded. 40-caliber Glock handgun inside a trash can, providing investigators with significant physical evidence in the case.
Taylor was prosecuted in Delaware Superior Court. In August 2018, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a person prohibited. The plea eliminated the need for a trial and established his criminal responsibility for Lindsay’s death.
In January 2019, a Superior Court judge sentenced Taylor to 25 years in prison. The sentence also included six months of either home confinement or work release after his incarceration, followed by two years of probation. The guilty plea and prison sentence brought the homicide prosecution to a conclusion nearly two years after Lindsay was shot.
