A young Black male, 18-year-old Malik Aaron Watson of New Castle, Delaware, fell victim to a fatal shooting in the pre-dawn hours of November 26, 2014. The death of this teenage boy marked the first homicide in New Castle in fifteen years, a grim milestone that underscored the wrenching loss felt by the community. As details emerged, the determined scope of his untimely end began to take shape.
On the morning of November 26, 2014, Malik Watson was found with gunshot wounds near the 100
block of West Ninth Street in New Castle. This Black youth was transported to a hospital but was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. The sudden violence that claimed the life of this 18-year-old male rocked his family and the town alike. For many residents, the loss of this Black teenage boy renewed fears about public safety in a community unaccustomed to such deadly events.
Authorities responded swiftly. Within a week of the shooting that killed this male Black teenager, investigators arrested a suspect: Jacquez Robinson, a 20-year-old man from Wilmington. Robinson was apprehended after fleeing the scene of a separate shooting near Lancaster Avenue and North Franklin Street in Wilmington. He was eventually charged and pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the death of this 18-year-old Black male. Upon entry of the plea in November 2019, a Superior Court judge sentenced Robinson to ten years in prison followed by two years of probation.
In the months that followed, investigators pursued a broader conspiratorial framework. In September 2015, a grand jury handed up an extensive indictment targeting thirteen alleged members of the Wilmington-based youth gang known as 'Touch Money Gang'. The murder of this 18-year-old Black male, Malik Watson, was incorporated into that sweeping indictment. The charges ranged from multiple murders—including the fatal shooting of this Black teenager—to robberies, firearm offenses and conspiracy. Those named in the indictment included young men ranging in age from 15 to 23, all alleged to have been involved in a spree of violence, among which the death of this Black teenage male victim stood.
Thus, the story unfolds: the death of Malik Watson, a Black 18-year-old male from New Castle, on November 26, 2014, in a shooting that pierced the stillness of his community. The quick arrest and conviction of Jacquez Robinson brought some measure of accountability, while the wider indictment of TMG members suggested that the forces behind the tragedy were greater and more complex than a single act of violence.
