Wilmington, Delaware, police have released body camera footage from the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Kadir Skinner, a case that has become one of the city’s most closely watched use-of-force incidents in recent memory.
What the footage shows
The video, released by the Delaware Department of Justice three weeks after the June 24 incident, captures a short foot chase near 24th and Jessup streets. An officer is seen leaving his cruiser and running after Skinner, who was moving down a sidewalk with a loose dog nearby.
Within seconds, the officer draws his weapon and fires four times. Wilmington officials have said Skinner was struck from behind. After the shooting, the officer can be heard yelling commands, and Skinner is shown collapsing to his knees, telling officers he was unarmed. Officers then handcuffed him on the pavement while he repeated that he could not breathe.
A separate clip shows another responding officer walking to a spot along the sidewalk and picking something up from the grass before confirming to colleagues that the item, believed to be a gun, had been secured. Roughly three and a half minutes passed before officers moved Skinner’s body into a police vehicle to be taken to a hospital, where he later died.
Family and attorneys dispute the police account
Following the release of the footage, Skinner’s family and their attorneys gathered at Shiloh Baptist Church in Wilmington to respond publicly. They argue the video contradicts the department’s earlier account, which had described Skinner emerging from a home armed and pointing a gun at a crowd before the shooting.
Attorneys representing the family say the footage instead shows Skinner running from officers without appearing to pose a threat, and that no crowd or armed confrontation is visible in the moments before he was shot.
One attorney called the shooting an unjustified killing, while another argued that regardless of whether a weapon was ultimately recovered, Skinner was shot while running away and not confronting anyone. The family has also filed a 25 million wrongful death claim against the city and is calling for criminal charges to be brought against the officer who opened fire.
Investigation continues
The Delaware Department of Justice is continuing its investigation into the shooting, and officials have said the review will be thorough. Wilmington Mayor John Carney addressed the footage in a public statement, saying the city and state investigators remain committed to transparency throughout the process.
Carney also cautioned that body camera video has limitations and does not capture the full scope of what happened that night.
The department has not announced a timeline for when its investigation will conclude or whether charges will be filed. The case has drawn significant attention in Wilmington, with community members, clergy, and civil rights attorneys continuing to press for accountability as the investigation moves forward. Local officials have acknowledged the footage will likely remain a central point of scrutiny in the weeks ahead.
