UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect new information from police about a Wednesday arrest.
Atiyah Martin-El's Tuesday afternoonbegan like most others.
Shortly before 2 p.m., she got inher car andheaded to Wilmington's East Side, where her sister, Latahesia Hill, was waiting. The two worked together in Pennsylvania, and Martin-El wason the way to pick her up for work.
As Martin-El neared the 1000 block of N. Pine St.,where 37-year-old Hill lived, Wilmington police cars and crime scene tapeblocked her way.
When she stopped to check on the commotion, she was told her sister had been shot, one of three injured outsideBill's Deli Market.
Hill and the other women, a 26-year-old and a23-year-old, were rushed to the hospital. Hill was the only one who died.
INITIAL STORY:1 killed in Tuesday afternoon triple shooting in Wilmington's East Side
"She was a good person. She didn't deserve that;none of them deserveto be shot," Martin-El said Wednesday afternoon from the stoop of her sister's home. "We want justice; they killed somebody that was on their way to work."
Martin-El and several cousins called the womana "peacekeeper" and said she was not the intended target.
As Hill's family mourns her loss, community members, business owners and city officials are expressing their outrage about the shooting and the history of violence at the site.
Two years ago, on April 7, 2019, six people were shot near the market. Though no one died in that shooting, one man who was injured ran into the store, where an Army veteran tended to his wounds.
STORY:Combat training comes in handy for Army veteran amid shooting near Bill's Deli Market
Following the shooting, the city shut down the corner store. But a week later, it was back up and running, with residents once again gathering outside the building.
Now, many locals, including District 3 Councilwoman Zanthia Oliver, who represents the area, want something permanent to be done. Thatcould meanclosing the market for good, or increasing police presence.
"It's a building that's a safe haven for negativity," Oliver said. "I have seniors who call me and say, 'Look Ms. Oliver, I want to go to that store, but when I go in there, there's guys and femalessitting around, loitering outside.'
"It's all one big party, and it's a place where somebody else will get killed."
'The kids are scared'
On this overcast Wednesday in April, men and women of all ages hung around Bill's Deli Market, some gathered inside while others congregated on the sidewalk.
A woman in a motorized wheelchair navigated her way down East 10th Streetto the front of the store, where she handed several dollar bills to a young man to buy her goods. Once he came out with her requested items,she remained on the block, talking with locals.
Save for a 6-inch-long piece of crime scene tape several hundred feet from the market, there was no hint of the shooting that occurred less than aday earlier.
2019 SHOOTING:In Wilmington's East Side, residents reject labels of violence and crime after 6 shot
Periodically, police drove through the area, but they didn't stop. At one point, just before noon,three or four patrol cars swarmed the corner across fromthe store, where they targeted a specific man.
Before arresting him, officerspulled what looked likea gun out of his waistband. Less than 15minutes later, he and the police were gone. His arrestwas unrelated to Tuesday'sshooting, the departmentsaid.
AsOliver watched the commotion caused by the arrest and then eyedpolice drivingaway, she shook her head.
"That's great that theyconfiscated a weapon, which could have been used for another shooting out here," she said. "But now I need one of y'all to stay here. Someone stay right here on this block."
When asked, Wilmington police said a gun was not found on the man, but that 134 grams of marijuana were. Members of the department's drug, organized crime and vice division were in the area when they saw the man "engaged in drug activity."
Tyrone Brown, a longtime Wilmington resident who now lives on the East Side, echoed Oliver. He believes there are twoissues thatdirectly lead to the violence: Police don't get out of their cars and walk the block as they used to, and people loiter in and around the store.
In 2019, when the six people were shot, market employees said it was unfair to blame the store for that shooting.A store manager said it's not his job to patrol the area outside.
THE OWNER'S PROTEST:'We can't enforce anything'
ButBrown said he sees the same "negative activities," including drug dealing, "over and over and over again."
"I live around the corner, and I don't go in there because it's dangerous," he said. "We're not getting no support in shutting this down."
Last fall, Oliver introduced a proposal to the City Council that would close neighborhood convenience stores at 10 p.m. rather than midnight.She thinks that would help cut down on crime, particularly at night.
At the time,residents pushed back, especially those who live aroundBill's Deli Market. They saidworkers watchtheir children and let them buy food on credit when money is short.
OLIVER'S PROPOSAL:Could closing Wilmington corner stores earlier reduce the city's spike in violent crime?
"It's a community store," worker Jamil Butler told Delaware Online/The News Journal in November. "People in the inner city can't afford cars to get to these grocery stores."
Brown pushed back on that Wednesday, saying most people in the area, likeHill, have family members who have cars. And, he said, if residents "see a bunch of people standing around out there, smoking, they don't want to go walking down there anyway."
Shortly afterhe spoke these words,Macheko Carter, who runs a day care acrossfrom the market, ran up to Brown and Oliver.
Turning to the councilwoman,Carter, whose car was riddled with bullets during Tuesday's shooting,pleaded with her to affect change.She said she had nine kids, ranging in age from 3 months old to 11 years old,at the day care when the shooting occurred.
"Everybody hit the floor," Carter said. "That's not normal. It's not safe, and the kids are scared. I don't want to stay here andkeep (a business) in the neighborhood when the neighborhood don't want to help itself. I need to leave."
Send story tips or ideas to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2785. For all things breaking news, followher on Twitter at @izzihughes_
