Teen charged in July homicide; victim was best friend of Jordan Ellerbe

On the day that 23-year-old David Bailey was gunned down in Wilmington last summer, six people were injured by gunfire.

Bailey's shooter was one of those people, according to court documents obtained by The News Journal.

Wilmington officers arrested and charged 17-year-old Aaron L. Miles on Thursday with first-degree murder, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, according to police.

Wilmington police identified Miles, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, at St. Francis Hospital on July 28 where he showed up while officers were still on the scene of the homicide in the 700 block of S. Van Buren St., according to court documents.

At the hospital, Miles provided police and hospital staff with a fake name while he was treated for his gunshot wound to the arm, court papers say. He also told police that he had been shot in the Browntown area of the city and fled on foot to the hospital, according to court papers. 

Police later determined that no calls for shots fired were received during that time in the Browntown area.

When Miles was released from St. Francis, he was taken into custody for a violation of probation, according to court documents.

Bailey, who was found at the scene unconscious and unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the chest, died the same day.

Bailey's mother, Tonya, told The News Journal last year that her son was warned in prison and told by other inmates that his days were numbered.

Tonya said her son was targeted weeks after his release from prison. 

"We tried to send him out of the state, but it was too late," she said. "They killed him." 

His best friend was Jordan Ellerbe, a 16-year-old who was fatally wounded in a 2015 shooting – a death that state prosecutors say catalyzed a teen gang rivalry that is responsible for the deaths of many young men in Delaware's largest city, including 15-year-old Brandon Wingo.

More details regarding the back-and-forth nature of this rivalry came to light in recent weeks during the trial of Diamonte Taylor, who was found guilty of Wingo's murder.

The News Journal also chronicled Wilmington's streak of deadly teen gun violence in a series published last year, which found that the city was the deadliest place in America for children ages 12 to 17.

Like many teens in Wilmington, Bailey did what he needed to do to feel safe, according to his mother. 

"He wanted to put on a front for the streets," she said. "You have to go out there and fight to survive in the city of Wilmington."

Tonya Bailey learned that police had arrested the man charged with killing her son Thursday night, she said Friday. The phone call was met with relief, Bailey said, but it wasn't enough to bring back David.

"Just because they found him, I'm not going to stop speaking out," she said. "I'm going to start going to community meetings. I just wish it hadn't taken my son's death to get me to start. We need to help our kids."

Court records show that Miles had run-ins with the juvenile justice system as early as 2015, when he was 14 and caught with a gun in Wilmington.

In that incident, Capt. Stephen Misetic – who died earlier this year from a heart attack – radioed to other officers that he was in pursuit of a black man running east on West Sixth Street after a single shot was heard in the 400 block of W. Seventh St., according to court documents.

During the pursuit, Miles threw a black-and-silver handgun over a wall into the yard of the Cathedral of St. Peter Church, according to court documents. 

After police took Miles into custody, they returned to the yard and were given a handgun that a teacher said had hit one of the students, court papers say. Police later found the gun to be reported stolen.

Miles pleaded guilty to resisting arrest, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, carrying a concealed deadly weapon and two counts of reckless endangering, according to court papers.

He was then sentenced to three years at Glen Mills Schools, a court-referred school for at-risk youth in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He was doing well there until March 2017, according to court documents. Two months later, a warrant was issued for his arrest for a violation of probation.

Less than two months later, he fatally shot Bailey, according to court papers.

Wilmington police used surveillance video to identify Miles as he arrived at the hospital wearing the same outfit as a man fleeing the shooting scene, court papers say. In video footage, a man is also seen placing a blue pad over his arm in a vehicle near the shooting scene, which is what Miles had over his gunshot wound when he arrived at the hospital.

Miles has been at the Ferris School for Boys since leaving the hospital on a violation of probation, according to court records. The latest sentence review in November indicated that Miles was "taking the appropriate classes and (was) on track to complete his program in April 2018," court papers say.

He is now being held at Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington after failing to post $1 million bail.