2 charged in party gunfire with 6 shot

Two people have been arrested for gunfire at a girl’s 16th birthday party last month that hospitalized six people with gunshot wounds.

Elijah Desir, 19, of Seaford Meadow Apartments in Seaford, was arrested Tuesday at his home and Laquan Johnson, 17, of the 100 block of Fleming St. in Harrington, turned himself in Wednesday at the Harrington Police Department, Lt. Earl K. Brode said.

“There may have been other shooters,” Brode said, adding that city police are continuing to investigate.

Police believe a teen’s beating prompted the gunfire as the party was starting to break up shortly after 1 a.m. June 28 in the 100 block of East St.

“We believe the Johnson boy fired rounds off in the air when his friend was getting beat up,” Brode said.

Desir, investigators concluded, “then retaliated by shooting,” he said.

Police believe he Desir was the shooter whose gunfire hit all six people who were injured, he said.

Desir was charged with six counts of first-degree assault and firearm possession during commission of a felony.

Lacking $140,000 cash bail, he was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution near Georgetown.

Johnson was charged with first-degree reckless endangering, firearm possession by a prohibited person, firearm possession during commission of a felony and inciting a riot.

Lacking $61,000 secured bail, he was committed to the state’s Stevenson House Detention Center in Milford.

The party was being held for a girl’s 16th birthday, with about three dozen guests expected, but police – who arrived to find 200 to 300 people – said the party had gotten out of control as word of it spread through social media.

City police were assisted at the scene by Delaware State Police, Delaware Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement and officers from the Felton Police Department.

Only one of those injured, a 19-year-old woman from Harrington with a graze wound of her head, was still at the party when police arrived, according to Detective Sgt. Adam S. Gillespie. She was taken by ambulance to Milford Memorial Hospital.

The other five had been taken to hospitals by private vehicles, he said.

They were:

• A 20-year-old man from Milford, shot in the buttocks.

• A 19-year-old man from Lincoln, with a graze wound of the abdomen.

• A 17-year-old boy from Harrington, with graze wounds of the back and arm.

• A 24-year-old man from Lincoln, shot in the shoulder.

• A 19-year-old man from Blades, with a graze wound of the back and wound from a bullet that passed through his arm.

The man from Blades was taken to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital in Seaford, but the others were taken to Bayhealth Milford Memorial Hospital, Gillespie said.

“Nonstop investigation” by city detectives after the incident led to their identification of Desir and Johnson as the shooters, Brode said Thursday.

After warrants were obtained for their arrest, he said, Johnson was taken into custody without incident and Desir surrendered to police.

As investigation of the incident continues, Brode said anyone with information is asked to call the Harrington Police Department at (302) 398-4493 or give tips through Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333 and www.tipsubmit.com.

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