On a summer evening in Chester, Pennsylvania, the life of 17-year-old Calvin Banks was brought to a violent and sudden end. It was July 14, 1993, when the African American teenager was fatally shot near the intersection of 9th and Madison Streets. Witnesses reported hearing gunshots before seeing a dark-colored vehicle speeding away from the scene. The Chester Police Department launched an investigation, but the case soon grew cold, leaving a family shattered and a community searching for answers.
For Calvin’s mother, Delores Banks Strand, his death was the beginning of an unimaginable, decades-long nightmare. Calvin was her oldest son, the first of her three children. His murder was a devastating blow, but it was a tragedy that would revisit her two more times. In 2006, her middle son, Duane Banks, was also killed by gun violence in Chester at the age of 31. Seven years later, in 2013, her youngest son, Marckus Banks, was murdered at 32.
In the span of twenty years, Delores lost all of her children to the same streets. “I struggle every day,” she shared at a 2014 memorial for victims of gun violence. “I only had three children and they are all gone. I wake up every morning with them on my mind and there is nothing I can do.”
The year Calvin was killed, 1993, was a particularly violent one for the city of Chester. The post-industrial city, which had struggled for decades with the loss of its manufacturing base, saw its homicide rate reach a modern high. This challenging environment, coupled with a scarcity of leads, created significant hurdles for law enforcement. Despite initial efforts to gather evidence and interview people in the neighborhood, the investigation into Calvin's murder stalled. No suspects were ever publicly identified, and no arrests have ever been made.
Over the years, detectives have periodically revisited the cold case file, hoping that new technology or a witness with a change of heart might provide the breakthrough needed to solve the crime. However, more than three decades have passed, and the case officially remains an open and active homicide investigation. The pain for those who knew and loved Calvin remains. His death is not just a statistic from a violent year in a struggling city; it is the story of a teenage boy whose future was stolen and a family’s enduring grief.
The loss has been a constant presence for Delores Banks Strand, a mother who stood with tears streaming down her face at a public memorial and declared, "They are right here with me and I’m still standing." Her strength in the face of such profound loss serves as a stark reminder of the human cost of unsolved violence. The memory of Calvin and his brothers, Duane and Marckus, lives on through their mother’s resilience and the ongoing search for justice.
As of June 2024, the murder of Calvin Banks remains unsolved. The Chester Police Department and the Delaware County District Attorney's Office continue to seek information that could lead to the identification and arrest of the person or people responsible for his death. Authorities urge anyone with knowledge of the shooting that occurred at 9th and Madison Streets on July 14, 1993, to come forward.
