Jeremy McDole

Jeremy “Bam Bam” McDole, 28, a paraplegic who used a wheelchair, was shot and killed by four Wilmington, Delaware police officers on September 23, 2015, after a 911 caller falsely reported he had a gun and had shot himself; the caller later recanted the claim and was never penalized for it. Bystander cellphone video showed officers surrounding McDole in his wheelchair, repeatedly ordering him to drop a weapon and raise his hands, before Officer Joseph Dellose opened fire as McDole's hands moved near his waist; no gun was ever visible in any released footage, and evidence photos purporting to show the recovered weapon did not surface publicly until six years later. Delaware's Department of Justice cleared all four officers of criminal wrongdoing in 2016, while finding Dellose's conduct “extraordinarily poor”; a 2020 review reached the identical conclusion. No one has ever been charged in McDole's death.

Wilmington, DE · New Castle County

• 2015: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The false 911 report, the confrontation, and the shooting, per Delaware Department of Justice investigative reports and bystander cellphone video that circulated publicly.
• The 911 caller who reported McDole had a gun and had shot himself later recanted that account; she was never charged or otherwise penalized for the false report that prompted the police response.
• Video showed officers ordering McDole, seated in his wheelchair, to drop a weapon and raise his hands; Officer Dellose fired as McDole's hands moved toward his waist area, though no firearm is visible in any footage from the scene.
• The Delaware Department of Justice's 2016 report concluded Officers Silva, Lynch, and MacColl were legally justified, while separately finding Dellose's decision to immediately confront McDole alone, rather than coordinate with officers already on scene, constituted “extraordinarily poor” police work; prosecutors nonetheless declined to charge him criminally.
• A subsequent independent review in 2020 by Delaware's Department of Justice reached the same conclusion, again declining to bring charges against any of the four officers.
• Evidence photographs purporting to document the handgun police said was recovered from the scene were not made publicly available until approximately six years after the shooting.
• The City of Wilmington settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by McDole's family for $1.5 million.

• Whether McDole in fact possessed a weapon at the time he was shot, given no gun is visible in any released video and evidence photographs of the recovered firearm were withheld from public view for roughly six years, was disputed by his family and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.
• Why evidence photographs central to the department's own justification for the shooting were not released for six years has not been explained in available public reporting.
• Why the 911 caller whose false report initiated the fatal encounter faced no legal consequence has not been addressed in any official public accounting.

• Wikipedia — “Killing of Jeremy McDole” (sourced case history)
• 6abc Philadelphia — “No charges for Wilmington cops in killing of man in wheelchair”
• CBS News Philadelphia — “Officials Announce No Charges For Wilmington Officers Who Fatally Shot Man In Wheelchair”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs