Crime strikes twice: neighbors say Bridgeville incident “never happens”

“I can’t. I don’t really feel like doing nothing right now. I’m sorry.” Those were the words from a man at the house on Conrail Road that faced rounds of gun fire not once, but on two separate occasions on Thursday.

The first set of shots happened just before 1 a.m. and left thirty-five year old James Dickerson dead. No one was hurt during the second round of shots that happened just before 10 p.m. However, there are bullet holes in the front bedroom window. It’s been temporarily repaired by duct tape.

State Senator Brain Pettyjohn, who represents the district, says he can’t remember anything ever happening like this.

Senator Pettyjohn says, “You don’t see these kinds of things happen in this area. To have this happen, even though it seems to be focused around this one residence, the neighbors around here are apprehensive.”

One neighbor we spoke with declined to show her face on camera. She says, “I was already scared from the first time. The second time, I mean there’s somebody out there that obviously doesn’t care about killing somebody once. They’ll do it again.”

Police don’t see a threat to the community at large. They say this home is being targeted.

Senator Pettyjohn says, “Its not a rampant problem. We don’t have rampant murders here in Sussex county like they do in other areas. There is crime and people should be on the look out.”

Jeff Lachance is already one step ahead of that. He’s lived in the community for more than 20 years and even though he admits he’s never felt threatened before, he’s taking precautions.

He continues, “We’ll make sure all doors are locked, check them every night, and make sure that our garage is locked. We’re going to put new lights on our storage shed out back and maybe rethink the street light that was out in front of our house.”

He also says if he sees something, he plans to say something. 47 ABC asked state police if they would be providing some sort of surveillance for the home. They said that they’re highly aware of the situation and will respond accordingly based on reports.

Police say they still don’t have a description for the suspects. Police ask anyone with information to please contact Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333.