The Dover Police Department held a press conference on Monday, May 6th, 2024 at 10:00 a.m., to announce the arrest of two suspects in the Delaware State University Homicide that occurred on April 21st.
Officials said they arrested Destry Jones, age 20, and Damien Hinson, age 18, both of Dover, for the murder of Camay Mitchell De Silva. They are also charged with the attempted murder of a 20-year-old male and a 21-year-old male, also from Dover.
Officials said on Sunday, April 21, 2024, at 1:40 a.m., Dover Police officers assigned to the university for added weekend and night patrols, heard what they believed to be shots fired in the area of Gate 3 along College Road and responded to investigate.
At nearly the same time, Delaware State University Police Department received a report of shots fired on the grounds of the Main Campus. This phoned-in report stated the shots were associated with a physical fight in the area of the Tubman-Laws dormitory with the participants fleeing across College Road toward parking lot 16. Neither agency located a fight, nor a crime scene, based on first available information.
After a separate call was made to report a female on the ground near the Warren-Franklin dormitory, Officers responded and located Camay suffering from a gunshot wound to her head. Her body was situated to the north of the breezeway that connects the east and west sections of that dorm. Warren-Franklin dormitory is located in the immediate vicinity of Tubman-Laws dormitory.
Paramedics were immediately called and Camay was transported to Bayhealth Kent Campus for treatment, where she died.
As we have previously released, Miss De Silva was not involved in this altercation and we do not believe she was the intended target of the gunfire which originated from the breezeway area according to police.
Officials said the investigation involved several witness interviews, extensive reviews of surveillance video, and forensic crime scene examinations.
Investigators ultimately learned that Jones and Hinson were part of a group that participated in the previously described physical altercation outside the Tubman Laws building with the previously noted 20 and 21-year-old males before any shots were fired, according to police.
It was also established that Jones and Hinson disengaged from the physical fight and took part in firing the shots that claimed the life of De Silva police said Monday. Detectives obtained warrants for Jones and Hinson and began looking for them.
On May 2, 2024, Jones was arrested at an apartment in the 1400 block of Prospect Place, in Brooklyn, New York. The apprehension was conducted by the U.S. Marshals New York New Jersey Regional Task Force Brooklyn Division, the New York City Police Department, and Detectives from Dover Police.
Later that same day, Hinson was also taken into custody in the parking lot of Gateway West Shopping Center, located at 1030 Forrest Avenue in Dover, by the US Marshals First State Fugitive Task Force, Dover Police Drugs, Vice and Organized Crime Unit, Dover Police S.O.R.T and Delaware Probation and Parole.
Jones is being held in New York awaiting extradition on one count of Murder in the First Degree, two Counts of Attempted Murder in the First Degree, one Count of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, one Count of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and one Count of Conspiracy in the First Degree.
Hinson was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on cash bail exceeding 3 million dollars on one count of Murder in the First Degree, two Counts of Attempted Murder in the First Degree, one Count of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, one Count of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and one Count of Conspiracy in the First Degree.
Jones and Hinson are not enrolled as students at Delaware State University, they have no affiliation with the School.