Homecoming week at Delaware State University ran seven days and, by the university's own account, ran well. It ended with gunfire in a parking lot across the highway — close enough to campus to trigger an emergency alert, and to leave a 22-year-old man dead in a city that was still hosting the celebration.
The shooting happened late Saturday night, October 10, in the parking lot of the Dover Commons shopping center, a strip mall directly across DuPont Highway (Route 13) from the DSU campus. Dover police officers heard shots and saw people running from the lot; they found two men in their 20s suffering from gunshot wounds.
What is known, and what is not
Nasir Cox, 22, of Philadelphia, died of his injuries. The second victim, a 21-year-old man, was hospitalized and listed in stable condition. The university was quick to establish one fact and underline it: neither victim was enrolled at Delaware State, and no student, faculty member, staff member or visiting alumnus was among the injured. The crowd the shooting scattered, though, was a homecoming crowd — students and alumni in town for the week's events, in a lot a short walk from campus.
What police do not yet have, publicly, is a suspect. Dover police Lt. Mark Hoffman said Monday that no arrests have been made and that the investigation continues. Several witnesses have already come forward, he said, and the department is asking for more: "We need the public's help on this." Anyone with information is asked to contact the Dover Police Department Criminal Investigations Unit at 302-736-7111, or Delaware Crime Stoppers.
"I had intended to write today only to say thank you"
On Monday, DSU President Tony Allen addressed the university community in a message that had been planned as a homecoming thank-you after a successful seven-day run of events. "I had intended to write today only to say thank you. I cannot," Allen wrote, saying the university will grieve with its city and its leadership. The university issued a campus alert Saturday night and said its officers remained in close coordination with Dover police throughout.
For now the case sits where too many weekend shootings sit: a victim identified, a second fighting through recovery, a parking lot's worth of witnesses, and investigators working the gap between what a crowd saw and what a crowd will say. Police have not announced a motive, a suspect description, or whether the shooting is believed to be connected to the homecoming events themselves. This is a developing story.
Sources · 1 source
- No arrests made as DSU reacts to off-campus shooting after homecoming
Delaware News Journal — 2026-10-12
