Terence Lee Purnell Jr., 34, a Black man, was shot late on August 8, 2014, in Wilmington, Delaware. Just after 11:30 p.m., police were called to East 13th and North Claymont Streets, where they found him suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including to the chest. He was rushed by private vehicle to Wilmington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. In the days that followed, his name was released and friends and family mourned the man many knew as “Skitz.”
Obituary notices later described a large, close-knit family left to grieve him.
Investigators ultimately determined that an argument had preceded the gunfire. Nearly two years after the killing, prosecutors secured a conviction in the case: Sidney Sessoms, then 31, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 21 years in prison for second-degree murder and related weapons offenses. Authorities said Sessoms fired at a group of people near East 13th and North Claymont, striking and killing Purnell. The location and circumstances matched what police reported on the night of the shooting, bringing a measure of resolution to a crime that had shaken the neighborhood.
Public remembrances of Purnell emphasize the life interrupted—his nickname, the services held at Mother U.A.M.E. Church, and the many relatives and friends who gathered to honor him. Community pages and memorial listings preserve his date of death and the place where violence cut his story short, while local coverage from the night of the shooting captured the urgency and fear of those late-summer hours.
