What did Kyrell Simpkins Say to the Judge?

“When we counted the shell casings, we lost count three times at least,” Detective Teeana Noble said. She had a sweep of hair over her brown face.

“The families affected totalled about ten individuals,” she said. This all occurred on a September day in 2019. Kyrell Simpkins opened fire on these ten people, and killed them all in the Wilmington, Delaware streets on a hazy night.

“It was late summer. I could still feel the steaminess. The heat waves came off of the pavement. The smell of gunpowder and carbon was almost overwhelming,” Noble said.

Simpkins kneeled down with his hands behind his head once detective Noble’s officers discovered him in an alleyway.

“‘Why don’t you just shoot me?!’ he said to us,” Noble recalled. “He surrendered but wished for death at the same time. It was quite bizarre,” she said. “I wondered if this was a ruse, and if he had more weapons, but upon further inspection, we found he had a tear-streaked face and was sobbing. We got the perpetrator, but it just didn’t feel right.”

The victims ranged in age from four to forty-five. It attracted a lot of media attention.

“The press certainly played a big role in amplifying what happened, both good and bad to be honest. They just made it blow up throughout the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware.”

A jury tried Simpkins and a judge sentenced him to a life for every life he took. It all totaled to 2,344 years,” Noble recalled. “I thought justice was served, but the pit of my stomach still told a different story. I desperately wanted to understand why this young man had committed such horrific crimes. What stood out the most, and what was most striking was what he said to the judge who was very curt and sharp with Simpkins. She wanted to know why he went on this rampage. Simpkins just shrugged his shoulders, squared up and said, ‘Because I could.’ That just floored me. I didn’t think in all my 17 years on the force I would hear a response like that. On the night of the occurrence, he seemed contrite. I guess almost a year in prison before the trial and sentencing hardened him. It shocked me, but somehow I wasn’t surprised. Another black male’s life ruined by his own hands. What else would he say?”

In a city suffering from gun violence on a nearly daily basis, the incident brought a sensational tone to the one and two shots fired, the Daily Delaware reported.

“This was huge. There were about thirty people who showed up to the scene. My uniformed officers had to hold the family members back. It was messy, but my team’s professionalism moved me the most. I recommended three of them to be promoted for their efforts. It was a vicious late summer.”

When asked about the extra clip Noble says, “The forensics team never did recover the clip. We found the magazine, but not the clip. It’s somewhere in South Bridge, Wilmington. I hope no kids get to it.”

Detective Noble drove like an Uber driver; she knew the streets, though by memory. She coasted over the urban field like a captain commanding a ship. Her vehicle stopped and she pointed.

“That’s where teams tried their best to recover the clip, but found nothing. We’re still thinking the clip must’ve been recovered by an associate who refused to snitch on himself.” Noble sighed, turned the corner and drove back to the station.