PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Investigators have released new surveillance video detailing the events that led to the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old earlier this year in the city's Lawncrest neighborhood.
The footage shows a young man dressed in all black walking out of one of the Oxford Village Homes along Algon Avenue near Oxford Avenue around noon on March 13th, just behind Samuel Fels High School.
Surveillance video of shooting
There are two kids with book bags he seems to follow but then he turns back a few seconds later and begins to fire shots down Algon Avenue, fatally striking 15-year-old Neko Rivera 10 times in the torso, arms, and legs. Police say just about 20 shots were fired from three different guns.
The shooter then ran south on Oxford Street. Rivera was trying to run away before he was gunned down. He died at the hospital.
Rivera has been described by many as a kid who loved baseball, pizza, and his family, and had dreams of becoming an engineer. Homicide Lieutenant Hamilton Marshmond says Rivera’s family had moved out of the Lawncrest area because of the violence.
“Mr. Rivera came back that day to visit a friend, and there was a neighborhood dispute that Mr. Rivera’s friend was involved in prior,” he said.
Philadelphia School District officials say Rivera was a student at Kensington High School. Marshmond says he was a really good kid and a good friend.
As with every homicide, there’s a $20,000 reward with information leading to an arrest and conviction.