Man pointed to killer with dying word, court papers say
As 38-year-old Keevan Hale was dying on a Wilmington porch last week, an officer asked him if the man lying on a nearby sidewalk with a single bullet wound was responsible for shooting him.
"Yeah," Hale was quoted in a court document obtained by The News Journal. Hale was declared dead at 9:06 p.m. – about an hour after Wilmington officers responded to the 600 block of E. 23rd St. on Feb. 23.
Kashiem Thomas, 21, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder in the slaying of Hale.
"My client was disappointed to be charged with murder, and he entered a plea of not guilty last evening while still in the hospital where he is hoping to recover the use of his legs," said Kathryn van Amerongen, Thomas' attorney. Thomas remains at the hospital.
According to the heavily redacted court document, Hale had been sitting alone on a porch along East 23rd Street about 8 p.m.
About that time, video surveillance shows a man approaching the area from an alleyway on the north side of the street. The man was dressed in dark-colored clothing and wore a black ski-style mask. He kept his hand in his jacket moments before the shooting.
As the man reached Hale, he began to shoot at him, police said. Hale, who'd feared retaliation after being involved in a shooting the month before, returned fire from the .40-caliber handgun he had with him.
Hale, who was struck multiple times in the torso, fell into the residence through the front door.
Thomas, who wore a black ski-style mask and dark clothing, was on the sidewalk with a single gunshot wound to his back, according to court documents. Witnesses told police that several family members or associates of Thomas arrived at the scene and started going through his clothing before police arrived.
In addition to bullet casings and shotgun shells, police found a .40-caliber handgun at the scene. No other weapon was found.
Thomas was taken to Christiana Hospital, where he was charged on Thursday.
This incident took place blocks away from where a double fatal shooting occurred two days earlier, adding to one of the most deadly starts to a year in Wilmington.
Eleven people were killed by gunfire in the first 54 days of the year.
- Last year, it took until May 19 – 140 days – for 11 people to have been killed by gunfire.
- In 2015, it took until April 28 – 118 days – to see that many people killed by gunfire.
- Wilmington did not see 11 people fatally shot in 2014 until June 21 – 172 days into that year.
- It took until Sept. 13 of 2014 to reach that many homicides by gunfire – 256 days into that year.
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.
STORY: Wilmington's homicide rate accelerating over past years