Delaware

Gunmen Shoot and Kill Teen Couple Inside Delaware Home

Police blocked off West 26th Street in Wilmington, Delaware, Monday morning after two 17-year-olds were killed in a home

Friends and family are mourning a teen couple after they were killed inside a home in Wilmington, Delaware, early Monday.

Christian Coffield and Janiya Henry, both 17, were found dead in a home on West 26th Street near North Market Street around 4:30 a.m., police said.

Neighbors told NBC10 the teens and about 10 other people were in the home when Coffield's mother and some young children were held up at gunpoint by two masked men on the first floor of the home.

"Held her and her kids downstairs at gunpoint," Jamir Harper, a family friend, said. "Told them pretty much, 'Stay where you are. I'm not going to hurt you.'"

The gunmen then went upstairs and shot Coffield and his girlfriend Henry. Both victims died from their injuries.

"It sounded like it was going on forever," Agnes Wood, a neighbor who heard the gunfire, told NBC10. "It was really frightful because you know somebody's getting hurt or killed."

The slain couple had a baby last year, friends and neighbors said.

Coffield had attended Dickinson High School where he played football but withdrew in late October, the Red Clay School District said.

Neighbors said the teens could have been targeted though police have not confirmed this.

Officers could be seen blocking 26th Street throughout Monday morning as they investigated the homicides.

Investigators asked anyone with info to call police Detective Robert Fox at (302) 576-3619 or submit a top to Delaware Crime Stoppers online or at 1-800-TIP-3333.

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