New Castle County Police continue to investigate an officer involved shooting that occurred in the area of Philadelphia Pike and Washington Street Extension.
WILMINGTON: Police say that on Wednesday just after 2:00p.m., detectives from the Special Investigations Squad (SIS) were assigned to locate and arrest Keith Price, 21, of Wilmington. Major Crimes Squad detectives identified Keith Price as the suspected shooter in the April 9th shooting on Lambson Lane and obtained first-degree attempted murder warrants for his arrest.
According to police spokesman, JP Piser, SIS Detectives located Keith Price, alone, driving a green Honda Civic in the City of Wilmington. Detectives called for County uniformed patrol officers in fully-marked patrol vehicles to assist with a vehicle stop of Keith Price.
Piser said, police officers, utilizing fully-marked patrol vehicles, attempted to stop Keith Price in the area of 24th St and Market St. Officers exited their vehicles and gave Keith Price commands in an attempt to arrest him. Keith Price refused to comply with officers’ commands and instead drove his vehicle towards the officers, which resulted in an officer firing their departmentally issued handgun at Keith Price.
Keith Price continued to ignore commands and crashed his vehicle into a fully-marked police vehicle before driving from the scene. Police initiated a vehicle pursuit which ended when Keith Price crashed his Civic into uninvolved motorists on Philadelphia Pike at Washington Street Extension.
Keith Price fled from his Civic on foot to the south side of St. Helena’s Church with an officer in foot pursuit. Keith Price ran and concealed himself in large bushes next to the church. As the officer pursued, Keith Price reappeared and pointed a handgun at the officer which resulted in the officer firing their departmentally issued handgun, striking Keith Price. Keith Price was provided emergency medical attention and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The handgun was recovered from Keith Price’s person at the scene.
The two officers involved, an 18-year member and a 3-year member of the Division of Police, were taken to an area hospital for treatment. Both officers were treated and released from the hospital last night. As per division policy, both officers were placed on paid administrative leave while investigations are conducted.
Separate investigations are currently being conducted by the New Castle County Police Criminal Investigation Unit, the New Castle County Police Professional Standards Unit and the Delaware Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust.
While en-route to assist, a County officer was involved in a two-vehicle crash at 26th St and Carter St. The officer who was involved in this crash was uninjured. The occupants of the other vehicle were taken to an area hospital where they were treated and released for non-life-threatening injuries.
The motorists who were involved in the crash at Philadelphia Pike and Washington Street Extension reported no injuries.
This is an active and ongoing investigation; further information will be released as it becomes available.
If you have any information pertaining to this investigation, please contact New Castle County Police at (302) 573-2800. Citizens can also submit a tip via our website at http://www.nccpd.com. Tipsters may also call Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333 or visit us on Facebook at New Castle County Police Department. Citizens who currently have the smartphone application are encouraged to use the “submit tip” tab to submit tips. Select a topic by using the “drop down” and complete the tip by “clicking” submit. The New Castle County Police Smartphone Application is free to download and available for all iPhone and Android smartphones.
