By Kendall McGee | December 30, 2020 at 6:33 PM EST – Updated December 30 at 6:57 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) -Wednesday morning, Wilmington saw its twenty-second homicide of 2020.
Police say 26-year-old Tywan Parsley died on 13th Street after he was shot. Investigators are still working to learn who shot him and why, but sadly its a situation the city has seen play out nearly two dozen times this year.
This year surpassed the previous record set back in 2017 when the city of Wilmington saw 20 homicides.
“The violence just has to stop. My people are tired, the community is tired, I am tired of this. Something has got to change,” said WPD Chief Donny Williams. “Our hearts and prayers go out to his family. This senseless violence in our city has to stop.”
The violent year started with the murder of George Porter, who was killed during a drug-related armed robbery on 4th Street.
This spring, the city saw a string of violence starting when Daiquan Jacobs was shot and killed in a crash that shut down Oleander Drive.
Police arrested three men on the day of his funeral after someone wearing a ski mask carrying a semi-automatic rifle exited a car near the service.
“We cant live like this. In this community, you’ve got people trying to raise their families,” said city councilman Kevin Spears.
A week later, father and popular party promoter Shawn ‘Skidog’ Grady was shot and killed at a home on Montgomery Avenue, leaving another family in mourning.
“I miss him… that’s my heart… like I have my times I break down and cry. It still hasn’t hit me yet i’m waiting for him to walk through the door,” said Grady’s longtime girlfriend, Danielle Williams.
Police promised a plan to cut down violence, and they delivered it too, making the presentation the day after protests rocked downtown. However, the pandemic has ultimately proved to be a huge obstacle in implementing much of the city’s gun violence reduction plan.
Wilmington saw another spike in violence again this summer when a 15- year-old was killed in a shootout on Carolina Beach Road.
Weeks later, the community lost young mother Shamia Greene and Titus Vaughn on the same block of 11th Street.
”Smook was very special, he was and he’s gonna be very missed,” said the victim’s aunt, Shalonda Vaughn.
The holidays were also extremely difficult for some families: a Halloween shooting taking the life of 19-year-old Carly Baron and on Christmas Eve, the family of Jalisa Bellamy was left to grieve her loss.
With this week’s homicide, the Port City has lost 22 daughters, fathers and friends almost entirely to gun violence. As it stands, seven of those cases are classified as unsolved.
The cases, however, still remain open. Police ask that anyone with information contact them by calling the Wilmington Police Department at (910)-343-3609 or use the Wilmington, NC PD app for anonymous methods. Citizens can also text an anonymous tip to 847411 (tip411) by including the keyword WPDNC.
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