Stephen Jamelle Ballard, a 32-year-old Black man, was serving as a corporal with the Delaware State Police when he encountered a suspicious red Dodge Charger in the parking lot of the Wawa at 1605 Pulaski Highway in Bear, Delaware, shortly after noon on April 26, 2017. Ballard, who was in uniform and driving a marked police vehicle, approached the Charger and obtained identification from its driver and front-seat passenger. The passenger, Burgon Sealy Jr. of Middletown, told Ballard that he had arrived in a separate gray Honda Accord parked nearby. Ballard then walked around to the passenger side and asked Sealy to step out.
As Sealy emerged, a struggle began. Police said Sealy produced a handgun from his waistband and opened fire. Ballard tried to escape the gunfire by running toward a parked vehicle for cover, but Sealy pursued him across the parking lot. After Ballard was struck and fell, Sealy moved closer and fired multiple additional rounds into his upper body. Sealy then ran to the gray Honda and fled, leaving Ballard critically wounded. Emergency personnel treated Ballard at the scene and transported him to a hospital, where his death was announced later that afternoon. He had served with the state police for approximately eight and a half years.
The driver of the Dodge Charger remained in the Wawa parking lot when responding troopers arrived. Officers took him into custody while investigators worked to determine what role, if any, he had played. Authorities subsequently concluded that he was not a suspect, and he was released without charges. Investigators focused instead on Sealy, whose relatives contacted police after he reportedly told family members that he had shot a trooper. Information from the family led law enforcement to a home on St. Michaels Drive in the Brick Mill Farm development near Middletown.
When tactical officers surrounded the residence, Sealy began firing from inside. Nearby residents were evacuated, schools in the area were placed on lockdown, and negotiators spent hours trying to persuade him to surrender. After Sealy stopped communicating, police used an explosive breaching charge on the front door but continued seeking a peaceful resolution rather than immediately entering. Gunfire was again heard from the house during the early morning of April 27. At approximately 9:17 a.m., after a standoff lasting about 20 hours, Sealy came out armed and engaged law-enforcement officers. Police shot him, attempted lifesaving measures, and pronounced him dead at the scene at 9:29 a.m.
Sealy was identified by authorities as the person responsible for Ballard's killing, but he was never formally arrested, prosecuted or tried because he died during the confrontation the following morning. No other person was charged in Ballard's death, and the Charger's driver was specifically cleared as a suspect. The case therefore ended without a criminal trial or conviction, with the identified gunman's death bringing the immediate manhunt and standoff to a close.
