Clifton M. Leager, a 52-year-old White/Caucasian man, was killed during a violent home invasion at his residence in the Dover, Delaware, area during the early morning hours of October 17, 2015. At approximately 1:38 a.m., Delaware State Police were called to the 1400 block of John Clark Road in the Rodney Village development south of Dover after gunfire erupted inside the home.
Investigators determined that two armed men had forced their way into the residence, setting off a struggle with Leager and his adult son, Jacob. During the confrontation, both father and son were shot. Clifton Leager suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, while Jacob was taken to a local hospital, treated for his wounds and released.
Police identified the two intruders as Philadelphia men Saleem Shabazz and Matthew Harrington. After the shooting inside the house, the pair fled on foot through the surrounding Rodney Village neighborhood. Jacob, although wounded, picked up a handgun that investigators said had been dropped by one of the intruders and pursued them toward the location where their vehicle was parked. The chaotic sequence of events resulted in another death. Eighteen-year-old Haley Henwood of Philadelphia, who was in or near the suspects' vehicle, was struck by gunfire and was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Investigators subsequently concluded that Jacob had opened the vehicle door and fired into it, striking Henwood. The handgun he used was later recovered from the roof of a nearby home, where police said Jacob had thrown it after the shooting.
In the immediate aftermath, police launched a search for Shabazz and Harrington, warning that both men should be considered armed and dangerous. Harrington, then 23, surrendered to Buckingham Township police in Pennsylvania the day after the home invasion. Shabazz, then 21, remained at large for several more days before being captured in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on October 22. He was held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on $1 million bail while awaiting extradition to Delaware. Authorities initially pursued serious charges against the men, including murder, assault and other offenses connected to the forced entry, the shooting of Clifton and Jacob, and the events that followed.
The investigation also produced a separate criminal case against Jacob because of Henwood's death. In March 2016, Delaware State Police arrested him on a manslaughter charge after investigators and witnesses established that he had chased Shabazz and Harrington to their vehicle and fired the recovered handgun into it. He was initially held on $60,000 secured bond. The case was later resolved with Jacob pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide. He received credit for time already served along with six months of home confinement. His prosecution was separate from the murder case involving his father's death and reflected investigators' conclusion that the fatal shot that struck Henwood was fired during Jacob's pursuit of the fleeing intruders.
The cases against Shabazz and Harrington ultimately ended in guilty pleas rather than murder trials. Prosecutors said both men had forced their way into the Dover-area residence and fatally shot Clifton during the home invasion. In March 2017, Shabazz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, second-degree conspiracy and home invasion. Harrington also entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder later that month. The plea agreements resolved charges that had originally included first-degree murder and other serious offenses arising from the invasion.
Both men received lengthy prison sentences. Shabazz was sentenced to 34 years in prison, followed by one year in a halfway house and two years of probation. Harrington was sentenced to 25 years in prison, also followed by one year in a halfway house and two years of probation. Delaware prosecutors specifically identified the October 2015 home invasion and the fatal shooting of Clifton as the conduct underlying those sentences. What began as a late-night forced entry into a Dover-area home therefore ended with Clifton dead, his son wounded, Henwood killed during the fleeing suspects' escape, and both principal intruders eventually convicted and sentenced to decades behind bars.
