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Newark Police to Brief Public on Halloween Mass Shooting Near University of Delaware

Newark police and the Delaware attorney general's office will hold their first news conference Monday afternoon on the Oct. 31 shooting that wounded seven people, ages 15 to 21, along Main Street blocks from campus. Investigators have not disclosed a motive, and a 16-year-old victim was arrested on a weapons charge.

Newark Police to Brief Public on Halloween Mass Shooting Near University of Delaware

NEWARK, Del. — Newark police will hold their first news conference Monday afternoon on the Halloween night mass shooting that wounded seven people along Main Street, just blocks from the University of Delaware campus, marking the department's first public update in nearly a week.

The 2 p.m. briefing will include officials from the Delaware attorney general's office, signaling that state prosecutors are now closely involved in a case that has shaken a college town still processing the violence of Oct. 31.

The shooting broke out on a crowded stretch of Main Street, the commercial spine that runs along the university's edge, on Halloween night. Seven people were hit. Their ages range from 15 to 21, a span that includes both teenagers and college-age young adults.

Among the wounded was a 20-year-old University of Delaware student who suffered a collapsed lung, according to police accounts. Video captured by bystanders showed students fleeing the area as officers rushed toward the scene with weapons drawn.

Police have also confirmed that a 16-year-old shooting victim was arrested and charged with possession of a loaded firearm. Investigators have not said whether that weapon was the one used in the attack, and they have not publicly identified a suspect or described a possible motive.

The lack of a stated motive has left residents and students searching for answers in the week since the gunfire. Monday's briefing is expected to be the first opportunity for the public to hear directly from investigators about the status of the case, including any arrests, forensic findings or a timeline for further updates.

The shooting has renewed attention to gun violence in a city that borders one of the region's largest universities, where thousands of students live, work and socialize along the same corridor where the victims fell. Community members have pressed for clarity on how a gathering on a major thoroughfare could erupt into gunfire with so many young people present.

Monday's news conference is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be carried live by local broadcast outlets.

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