New Castle County Police have formally charged David Salasky, 32, of Wilmington with the first-degree murder of Sgt. Joseph L. Szczerba, an 18-year veteran of the force.
Salasky is also charged with possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony. He is being held without bond in the Howard Young Correctional Center.
Szczerba was stabbed after responding to a complaint about a disorderly person in the Penn Acres community near New Castle at around midnight Thursday.
Police said the complaint involved a confrontation between Salasky and a 45-year-old man whose car had been broken into. The two men struggled briefly before Salasky ran, according to police. Szczerba ran after someone he thought could be the suspect (Salasky) and then began struggling with him when the stabbing occurred.
Police spokesman Cpl. John Weglarz said Szczerba was wearing a protective vest, but he did not elaborate on the nature of his wounds.
Salasky was taken into custody after struggling with other officers, three of whom received minor injuries. Officers performed CPR on Szczerba before paramedics arrived, but the 44-year-old was pronounced dead at Christiana Hospital.
The crime scene remained blocked off Friday morning while members of the Wilmington Manor Fire Department hosed down the street where Szczerba was stabbed.
Several residents of the community said police knocked on their doors early Friday morning asking whether they had seen or heard anything.
"First time anything like this has ever happened here," said Beverly Morris, 67, who has lived in the neighborhood for 38 years.
Morris described the neighborhood as relatively quiet with a lot of older residents, but that it has been changing in recent years.
"It just seems like it's not the same as it used to be," she said.
Lisa Van Vechten, who lives next to the house in front of which Szczerba was stabbed, said investigators reviewed images on her computer from security cameras she had mounted on her house a few weeks ago, and decided to take the computer with them for further examination.
County executive Paul Clark said he had spoken to Szczerba's family and expressed his condolences.
"This tragic event is a grim reminder of the danger our police men and women, along with our paramedics and other first responders, put themselves in every day to protect their fellow citizens," Clark said in a statement. "We owe them a deep debt of gratitude for putting their lives on the line for us."
Gov. Jack Markell ordered flags flown at half-staff throughout the state in Szczerba's honor.
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, the former New Castle County executive, remembered Szczerba as a "good person and a great police officer."
"It is my hope that we pause today as a community to honor and remember all of those who risk their lives to keep us safe," Coons said in a statement. "Sergeant Szczerba's sacrifice will not be forgotten."
Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker and other city officials also expressed their regrets.
"This is a tragic, unnecessary incident for which all of us pause and remember the slain officer and his family in our prayers as well as reflect on the duty, devotion and dangers associated with policing," Baker said in a statement.
Authorities said Szczerba was not related to Wilmington police chief Michael Szczerba.