Mekell Tevon Horsey, an 18-year-old Black male from Laurel, Delaware, was fatally shot on the afternoon of January 29, 2017. At about 3:45 p.m., Laurel police received a report of gunfire near Sunset Drive in the Wexford Village apartment development. Delaware State Police troopers were called to assist and learned that Horsey had been struck by a bullet in his lower torso.
Sussex County paramedics treated him at the scene before rushing him to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy later determined that the bullet had entered his chest and confirmed that his death was a homicide.
The investigation quickly focused on Stephon R. Jackson. The day after the killing, state police announced that Jackson was wanted for two firearm-possession offenses connected to the same episode. Investigators alleged that he had fired several rounds from an unidentified handgun toward an apartment building in Wexford Village at approximately the same time Horsey was shot. At that early stage, police publicly sought help locating Jackson while the Homicide Unit continued working to establish the full circumstances surrounding the gunfire and Horsey's death.
Jackson remained wanted until February 23, when members of a state police enforcement team located him riding a motorcycle on Henry Drive east of Seaford. Police said he briefly fled on foot but was quickly captured without further incident. A records check showed that the motorcycle had been reported stolen. Jackson was initially charged with two counts of possession of a firearm or ammunition by a prohibited person, receiving stolen property and resisting arrest. He was jailed at Sussex Correctional Institution in lieu of a $22,000 cash bond.
After Jackson posted bail and was released on March 4, authorities obtained additional warrants charging him with first-degree murder and another firearm-possession offense. Troopers, homicide detectives, the Governor's Task Force and the State Police Special Operations Response Team coordinated a second search. Jackson was found in Georgetown and arrested without incident. He was returned to court and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution under a substantially increased $520,000 cash bond. No additional person was publicly identified as a suspect in Horsey's killing.
The case was ultimately resolved without a murder trial. In February 2018, Jackson pleaded guilty to manslaughter, three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and one count of first-degree reckless endangering. The Delaware Department of Justice stated that Jackson had shot and killed Horsey at the Wexford Village complex. A Superior Court judge later sentenced Jackson to 16 years in prison, followed by six months of work release and two years of probation. Detective Jon King of the Delaware State Police Homicide Unit led the investigation, while Deputy Attorneys General Casey Ewart and Kevin Gardner prosecuted the case.
