Brian Brooks, a 29-year-old Black man from Wilmington, Delaware, was shot on the night of April 25, 2017. At approximately 9:15 p.m., multiple 911 callers reported gunfire in the 900 block of Maryland Avenue, and the city's ShotSpotter system also alerted police to shots in the area. Officers responding to the residential block discovered Brooks collapsed on the porch of a home with a gunshot wound to his upper chest or torso.
New Castle County paramedics treated Brooks at the scene before rushing him to Christiana Hospital in critical condition. Reports from the initial response indicated that emergency personnel performed CPR as they fought to save him. Despite those efforts, Brooks died from his injuries at the hospital, turning the shooting into a homicide investigation. His death came only days before what would have been his thirtieth birthday.
Investigators did not publicly describe what led to the shooting or identify a motive. Police appealed for witnesses and anyone with information to contact the detective assigned to the case, while also seeking help identifying and locating the gunman. Available reporting does not name a suspect, and no arrest, criminal charge, trial, or conviction connected to Brooks's killing has been publicly reported. The case therefore appears to have remained unresolved, with the identity of the person who shot him never publicly established.
