A 14-year-old boy has died after being shot along one of Wilmington's busiest thoroughfares, near a Dollar General at the intersection of South Fifth Avenue and Dawson Street. Gunfire was heard in the area just after 8 p.m. on Tuesday, and the teenager suffered a gunshot wound before EMS transported him to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
The Wilmington Police Department was called to the shooting and confirmed the juvenile's death, according to reporting by Port City Daily. The shooting location sits right at the intersection of South Fifth Avenue and Dawson Street, near a Dollar General that serves as a familiar landmark for residents in the area, as reported by WHQR. Police continue to investigate the homicide and have not released information about a suspect or a motive.
A Major Corridor Into the City
Dawson Street is no quiet side road. Project maps from the North Carolina Department of Transportation show it functions as a major one-way eastbound corridor carrying U.S. Route 76 and U.S. Route 17 Business directly into Wilmington after vehicles cross the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, meaning the stretch where the shooting happened sees heavy daily traffic and foot activity tied to nearby businesses. The corridor has drawn police attention before: department records show officers engaged in a high-profile vehicle pursuit on the 1300 block of Dawson Street in October 2022 that ended with the recovery of a thrown stolen firearm and the arrest of a fleeing suspect.
Investigators have asked anyone with information to contact the Wilmington Police Department or submit a tip through Tip411. The department can be reached directly at (910) 343-3600, and officials say they will release further details as they become available.
How This Case Fits Wilmington's Crime Trends
The shooting comes even as Wilmington has seen a long-term decline in gun violence overall. Firearm-involved violent crime in the city dropped 45 percent between 2020 and 2024 following the creation of the police department's dedicated Gun Crimes Task Force, the same station's reporting from January 2025 noted. The department also logged 11 total fatalities from homicides and fatal traffic crashes in 2024, a 15 percent drop from the year before, and reported an approximate 80 percent homicide clearance rate between 2019 and 2023 — well above the sub-60 percent national average for that period.
Officers also seized nearly 570 firearms in 2024, up sharply from 293 recovered in 2019, reflecting an intensified push to get illegal guns off Wilmington streets. Those numbers stand in contrast to a statewide trend flagged by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, whose Crime in North Carolina — 2024 report found that arrests of juveniles under 18 for violent crime rose 10 percent statewide last year, compared with a negligible 0.002 percent increase in adult violent crime arrests.
What Could Happen If a Suspect Is Charged
No suspect has been named in the case, and it remains unknown whether the person responsible is a juvenile or an adult. If a suspect between the ages of 13 and 15 is eventually identified and charged with a Class A felony such as first-degree murder, North Carolina General Statutes § 7B-2200 requires district court to transfer the case to Superior Court for prosecution as an adult once a judge finds probable cause, according to legal documentation from FindLaw Caselaw.
The investigation also unfolds amid a period of leadership change at the police department. Chief Donny Williams announced his planned retirement effective no later than June 30, 2025, closing out a 35-year career with the agency, including five years at its helm, per the same station's earlier reporting. For now, police say the homicide investigation remains active, and they are asking the public to come forward with any information that could help identify who fired the shots that killed the 14-year-old.
