A teenage boy who was a top student and basketball player was shot and killed in the alleyway behind his North Philadelphia rowhome as he was getting into the car with his mom Tuesday morning, officials say.
Several shots were fired at the 17-year-old — who family and school officials identified as Noah Scurry — behind the Rorer Street rowhomes, near Roosevelt Boulevard, in the Feltonville neighborhood just before 7:15 a.m. on Jan 14, 2025, Philadelphia police said.
He was getting into a car to go to school at Samuel Fels High School with his mom when he was shot, School District of Philadelphia spokesperson Monique Braxton said.
Scurry was struck throughout his body, police said. Medics rushed the teen to a nearby hospital where he died a short time later.
Police didn’t immediately reveal a motive or announce any arrests in the shooting. Police initially said a gun was recovered, however, in an afternoon update law enforcement said that wasn’t the case.
Scurry who was shot and killed near his home had recently posted the top score among his class on the SATs, Fels principal Melissa Rasper said in a letter to the school community.
“The student recently scored the highest among the Fels community on the SAT college placement tests,” Rasper wrote.
He was also a member of the Fels Panthers boys basketball team.
“He also played on the basketball team and for that reason, our boys basketball games will be cancelled for the remainder of the week,” Rasper wrote.
The school is offering counseling and support for students grappling with their classmate’s death.
“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.”
This is at least the third shooting of a child in Philadelphia so far this year, according to shooting data gathered by the City Controller’s Office.
Entering Tuesday, at least seven homicides have been reported in 2025, according to Philadelphia police data. That’s the lowest year-to-date homicide total since 2019.
