Note: This is a developing story and will be updated with new information as it becomes available.
On Thursday evening, around 5:15 p.m., Wilmington Police Department units responded to a shots-fired call at the Houston Moore public housing complex on Greenfield Street near South 13th Street.
Police found one person suffering from life-threatening bullet wounds. The unidentified victim was taken to Novant Health NHRMC and was listed in critical condition.
A spokesperson for New Hanover County confirmed that employees of the county's Port City United department were present at the shooting. Port City United was created in April 2022 with the aim of preventing street violence through a variety of means, including community outreach, a hotline, and violence interrupters.
"The Mediation Outreach Team with Port City United was conducting their routine duties in the Houston Moore area when shots were reportedly fired," Josh Smith, the county's chief spokesperson, told WHQR on Friday afternoon.
Smith also said WPD "took possession of a county vehicle, which was nearby during the incident, as part of their investigation."
WPD confirmed it had seized a county vehicle and as of Friday afternoon had released it.
Smith also added that "the county employee who was driving the vehicle was also questioned and released by law enforcement."
Smith said the county is fully cooperating with WPD.
PCU's Mediation Outreach Team, based on the Cure Violence Global model, is aimed at "meeting people where they are to build trust and mediate conflict in an effort to stop violence before it starts."
While PCU is its own program, it shares some elements and employees with a similar mediation program run by Tru Colors, the troubled for-profit brewery that sought to decrease violence by hiring active gang members with the credibility and connections to effectively seek out discord and preempt lethal violence.
