A 17-year-old walking along Salisbury Drive in Edgemoor Gardens was stopped for a simple pedestrian violation this week — and ended up facing nine charges after detectives say they found a loaded 9mm handgun with an extended magazine and roughly 80 grams of marijuana stuffed in his backpack. The teen failed to post $86,002 cash bail and was committed to a juvenile detention center following his arraignment.
According to New Castle County Police, detectives assigned to the Active Crime Trends Team were conducting proactive patrols in Edgemoor Gardens when they stopped the teen for walking on a roadway where a sidewalk was available and for failing to carry a light on a public roadway. That stop led detectives to search his backpack, where they say they recovered the loaded handgun and marijuana. He was taken into custody and transported to New Castle County police headquarters before being arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court 11.
The Active Crime Trends Team operates as a specialized unit within the county's Criminal Investigation Unit, tasked with proactive patrols and targeted interdictions in designated high-crime corridors, according to the New Castle County Division of Police. Edgemoor Gardens has been a recurring focus for that work — in September 2025, ACTT detectives made an arrest on the same street, East Salisbury Drive, after a suspect pointed a firearm at residents during a dispute, per New Castle County Police Department News.
A Long List of Felony Charges
The teen faces two felony counts of possession of a firearm by a person prohibited, stemming from what police describe as previous felony convictions that barred him from possessing or carrying a firearm. Under Delaware Code Title 11, Section 1448, any juvenile adjudicated delinquent for conduct that would be a felony if committed by an adult loses the right to purchase, own, or possess firearms or ammunition until age 25, according to the Giffords Law Center.
He was also charged with a felony count of possession of a firearm by a person under 21, a felony count of carrying a concealed deadly weapon, and a felony count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Delaware classifies concealed carry of a firearm as a Class D felony punishable by up to eight years in prison, per the Law Office of Michael W. Modica.
The extended magazine found in the backpack added two more counts: a felony charge of possession of a large-capacity magazine and a related civil violation. Delaware's Large-Capacity Magazine Prohibition Act caps magazine capacity at 17 rounds and bars possession, sale, or transfer of larger feeding devices, with limited exceptions for law enforcement and concealed-carry permit holders, per the same Giffords Law Center analysis.
Marijuana Charges Compound the Case
The roughly 80 grams of marijuana recovered from the backpack led to a felony count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, along with misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana other than a personal-use quantity and possession of drug paraphernalia. Delaware legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in 2023 with a personal-use limit of one ounce, or about 28.35 grams — but possessing 80 grams remains illegal regardless of age, and carrying marijuana alongside a firearm elevates the offense to felony intent-to-deliver territory, according to NORML.
Taken together, the case sits at the intersection of two of Delaware's toughest legal frameworks: strict firearm-possession bans for those with prior felony adjudications and a marijuana law that punishes underage and armed possession far more severely than the adult personal-use rules that now apply statewide.
A Familiar Pattern for This Police Unit
This is not the first time ACTT detectives have intercepted a high-capacity magazine paired with a large quantity of marijuana. In June 2025, a proactive traffic stop elsewhere in New Castle County turned up a loaded ghost gun with a 40-round magazine and more than 1,000 grams of marijuana, resulting in cash bail set above $122,000, New Castle County Police Department News reported at the time. County government reports also show that between June and September of 2025, the unit seized 15 firearms along with marijuana, cocaine, and synthetic narcotics during its proactive patrols, according to minutes from a New Castle County Government meeting.
Edgemoor Gardens itself is a 382-property residential community built in the 1940s that has long grappled with high renter density and neighborhood isolation, prompting revitalization efforts such as the Edgemoor Revitalization Cooperative Resource House, per county government background. Statewide, serious offenses have actually trended downward — the Delaware Statistical Analysis Center recorded 64,583 serious offenses in 2024, a 3% drop from 2020, while drug offenses in New Castle County fell from 7.04 per 1,000 residents in 2020 to 4.27 in 2024. Even as those broader numbers decline, proactive units like ACTT continue to concentrate enforcement in corridors like Edgemoor.
It remains unclear whether prosecutors will seek to charge the 17-year-old as an adult given his prior felony history and the felony firearm counts now filed against him. The origin of the 9mm handgun and its extended magazine has also not been disclosed. Hoodline previously reported on a separate case in the same neighborhood, when a Philadelphia man was charged with weapons and drug offenses following an NCCPD traffic stop in Edgemoor last August.
