Wilmington police say gunman who shot three officers is dead
Police identified the shooting suspect as 31-year-old Bernard Goodwyn of Smyrna, and said he was found dead at the scene.
The suspected gunman who shot and injured three Wilmington police officers Wednesday night is dead, officials said Thursday.
Residents and businesses in northern Wilmington were asked to shelter in place overnight into Thursday morning after the suspect — identified as Bernard Goodwyn, 31, of Smyrna, Del. — opened fire on police officers responding to a domestic dispute around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said.
The three officers were taken to a hospital; one was treated and released Thursday, while the two others were in stable condition, according to the Police Department. The officers weren’t identified, but two have been with the department since 2014, and one joined in 2018, police said.
Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki said he visited the two hospitalized officers Thursday afternoon and they were in “good spirits.” He praised the department’s actions during a tense standoff that lasted nearly 12 hours.
“Protecting and defending [Wilmington] and its people is a tremendously difficult task, but our officers and their law enforcement partners do an outstanding job,” Purzycki wrote on Twitter.
Throughout the morning Thursday, officers said they worked to negotiate with Goodwyn. They found him dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound when officers entered his room Thursday morning in the King Plaza apartments. At least two people, including an unidentified woman and a small child, were evacuated from the building earlier in the morning.
News of the officers’ injuries drew well-wishes from a number of notable Delaware officials, including Gov. John Carney, who said he and first lady Tracey Quillen Carney were “praying for the Wilmington PD officers shot in the line of duty, their families, and their fellow members of Delaware’s law enforcement community.”
“I am praying for the wounded officers of the Wilmington Police Department and thankful that they are in stable condition, on the path toward a speedy recovery,” Sen. Chris Coons said in a statement.
“Terrible news in Wilmington,” Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester wrote on Twitter. “I’m praying for a full and speedy recovery for all 3 officers and the victims.”
Goodwyn’s body was turned over to the Delaware Division of Forensic Sciences for further investigation, police said. The incident remains under investigation by the Criminal Investigations Division and the Office of Professional Standards.