Daryl A. Teat

Another young man was murdered before his 20th bday last night making him the 26th homicide of the year for the City of Wilmington. This ties the murder record set in 2008. It’s a damn shame when a person’slife is downgraded into nothing but a statistic.

My Facebook feed started going crazy last night around 830pm with news of Daryl’s death being broadcasted by younger Facebook connections. See I don’t know Daryl, but I found out as it happened because of the inner twined connections that all residents and former-residents of Wilmington share. Messages of “Rest In Peace” and promises of retaliation for a botched jux came across my computer screen. The pain, the hurt and the expressed love shared on his profile are all real with the obvious exception of some eager to make their association known for validity purposes. There’s nothing cool about this kid losing his life, nothing glamorous, nothing “gooned out” about it. Some of you need to grow up.

The stats:
Wilmington Pop. = app. 72,664
Philadelphia Pop. = app. 1,447,395
Wilmington Black = app. 41,418
Philadelphia Black = app. 639,748
Wilmington Black 18-24yo = app. 4,059*
Philadelphia Black 18-24yo = app. 71,012*
Wilmington Black Male 18-24yo = app. 1,867*
Philadelphia Black Male 18-24yo = app. 33,020*
Current Wilm. Murders = 27* Update 12/02/10
Current Phila. Murders = 208

Here’s your unofficial murder statistics.
Wilmington = 1 in 72 Black Males between 18-24yo have a good chance of being killed.*
Philadelphia = 1 in 158 Black Males between 18-24yo have a good chance of being killed.*

The county:
The reality is these incidents are not isolated to the confines of the city. A month ago I read posts on my news feed for another young subset of friends from Bear remembering their friend Kalil. 21 year old Kalil Ames was gunned down during an argument in Bear by a 17 year old friend. A couple of the posters revealed the identity of the shooter in hopes of finding him before the police a full 24 hours before the story appeared in the News Journal.

Daryl's last hour:
According to police, the incident unfolded about 8:50 p.m., when officers were called to Ray’s Deli in the 1200 block of Northeast Blvd. to investigate a robbery with shots fired. When officers arrived, the 31-year-old store clerk recounted what happened.

A preliminary investigation revealed that several suspects were in the store robbing the clerk. When the clerk went outside following the robbery, one of the robbers grabbed him and pulled him behind the business into a weeded area onto Thatcher Street. The assailant ordered the victim to give up his money or he would be shot, and another suspect rifled through his pockets and took whatever cash he had. At that point, the victim was able to break free and started running when gunshots rang out, Barnes said.

Detectives believe that one of the suspects was firing at the clerk but hit the 19-year-old robbery accomplice in the chest and leg. The remaining suspects then carried the dying victim to the 1200 block of N. Heald St. and left him on the steps of the church. A 17-year-old boy, stayed with Daryl as he lye dying after the rest of the group ran off. The gunshot victim was treated by New Castle County paramedics and rushed to Christiana Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

The reality:
There is a perpetual cycle of violence that is pervasive among African-American communities that is not exclusive to inner city dwellers, but also working class families. Readers of news sites cheer on the loss of another black life by posting comments calling them “monkeys”, “one less to worry about” and “let’s give them more bullets to wipe themselves out.”

And my community continues to serve their will. You can live your life out as a statistic or as a man. Rest in peace little brothers.

*Statistics based on assumed demographic information provided by most recent US Census data.