robin brown

The News Journal

One person was killed and two others injured Tuesday evening in a shooting in the Foxwood Apartments in Pike Creek, New Castle County police said.

A man and woman were taken by ambulance to Christiana Hospital shortly after 6 p.m., Officer First Class Tracey Duffy said.

A second man was found fatally shot inside Harlech Hall on Henderson Hill Road, she said.

"We are currently not looking for any suspects," said Duffy. She would not comment when asked if police believe the dead man was the shooter.

Police released no details Tuesday night about the circumstances of the shooting or any relationship between the three people. "The detectives are still in there," Duffy said, adding that more information will be released as the investigation progresses.

A UPS delivery man was taking a package to Harlech Hall shortly before 6 p.m., when the injured man and woman ran from the building, told him they were shot and asked him to call police.

Blood drenched the male victim's back and the woman said she was shot in the stomach.

The 911 call initially reported the situation as a burglary-in-progress, Duffy said, but police are not certain of the motive for the shooting.

As the unidentified UPS driver – who said he was not authorized to talk to the media – waited to be interviewed by police, the woman whose package he was delivering came home from work to find Henderson Hill Road cordoned and the parking lot by her building filled with police.

"It's very scary to come home to this," she said. "Even scarier that it's my building."

After learning the UPS delivery man reported the shooting as he was approaching her building, the woman, who declined to give her name, walked to his truck to talk to him.

"I'm so sorry about this," she told him, "but I'm glad you're OK. I heard you were bringing my package, Harlech Hall."

"That's where I was headed," he said.

They chatted briefly and she got her package, which she said "doesn't seem very important right now."

She and other residents said they were concerned about increasing violence in the complex.

"This is the second shooting out here in the last two months," said resident Tiara Berry. "This is wild.... It's getting bad."

On May 4, a 27-year-old man was shot and went from building to building, banging on residents' doors – and leaving a bloody trail – as he tried to get help. Police later charged Jason Scott, 38, who was identified as homeless, with attempted murder in that shooting.

The building where that shooting victim finally got help was several buildings away from Harlech Hall.

Many complex residents who stood outside the yellow tape, including several Harlech Hall residents, said they didn't hear any gunfire. They did hear an alarm sounding in another building, which authorities said was unrelated and not an emergency.

Steven Germain, who talked to the UPS employee shortly after the shooting, said he and others watched as the Delaware State Police helicopter hovered over the complex, then left without landing.

Taylor Oulton, who lives in the next building, said she had no idea what was going on until her chihuahua, Jeter, needed to go for a walk.

Then she saw the police cars and lights.

"I asked if it was safe, and the police said, 'Just stay inside,' " she said.

Instead, Oulton walked Jeter out the back door and up to where other residents stood.

After learning from them that two people were shot and a third apparently was dead, she shook her head and said, "This is terrible."

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com, on Facebook, or Twitter @rbrowndelaware.