Noah Scurry, a 17-year-old Samuel Fels High School basketball player, was shot and killed on the way to school with his mother Tuesday morning, according to the school district and police.
Scurry was found shot on the 5000 block of Rorer Street, near Tacony Creek Park and Roosevelt Boulevard, around 7:15 a.m., according to a Philadelphia police spokesperson.
“The principal, coach, players, classmates, peers, are distraught,” Monique Braxton, a spokesperson for the School District of Philadelphia, said. “This is unimaginable for them. The student was getting in the car with his mom this morning in the back of his home, and he was shot and killed. This student was about to graduate. He probably would’ve had offers to play basketball at colleges across the country. And you know, it’s just a life senselessly cut short.”
Officers arrived on the block and found Scurry had been shot multiple times throughout his body. Medics with the Philadelphia Fire Department took him to Jefferson Einstein Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:37 a.m.
Police recovered a white Jeep Grand Cherokee matching the description of the vehicle seen in surveillance video leading the murder scene.
After initially saying a weapon was recovered, police said later Tuesday none was found at the scene. Homicide detectives are investigating what led up to the shooting and the whereabouts of any suspect or suspects.
Fels Principal Melissa Rasper mourned Scurry in a letter to families Tuesday.
“Ours is a tight-knit community, and I know that this is difficult news to receive even when it doesn’t occur on school property,” Rasper wrote. “Death is rarely something that is easy to accept, especially when it involves a young person, a classmate and particularly during these times as our city grapples with heightened gun violence.”
Scurry was the school’s highest scorer on the SAT and a member of the boys’ basketball team. Games are canceled for the rest of the week.
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“The basketball boys weren’t in the lunchroom. The whole school seemed upset. I saw people crying. It was just traumatic,” Mohamed Elfaki, a 10th-grade Samuel Fels High School student, said. “He was really smart. Whenever he entered a room, the room always lit. There was always a smile on somebody’s face when you were around him. Just so sad to think that he died.”
Mental health professionals will be available for students who want assistance coping with their grief. School counselors will also be available to talk to someone.
“This is a difficult time, but I know our community will be there to support one another as we remember a beloved student and classmate,” Rasper wrote.
“He was very helpful even when he wasn’t called upon,” Braxton said. “If he saw someone walking down the hallway and they needed assistance carrying books to classes, he was the one who reached out to offer assistance. He didn’t get in any trouble here at school. So, no one can really wrap their head around why this would happen to him.”
In a statement, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Arthur Steinberg wrote, “We are devastated that senseless gun violence has claimed the life of another Philadelphia public school student. Every child deserves the freedom to learn, mature, and thrive without the threat of violence. … While the historic decline in homicides in Philadelphia is a tremendous achievement, every preventable act of violence is unacceptable.”
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