Police: Shots followed fight after earlier basketball game

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A shooting in west Philadelphia that killed one teenager and wounded two others as they were leaving a community league basketball game stemmed from a fight after an earlier game, police said Tuesday.

Capt. James Clark of the homicide division said 15-year-old Tyhir Barnes was shot in the face Monday night and died at a hospital. The 10 shots fired by another teenager also wounded a 14-year-old in the arm and a 16-year-old in the leg.

"We're asking for the public's help — we know there were a lot of witnesses out there ... with any information about this killing. A very sad and senseless murder," Clark said.

Clark said the shooting stemmed from "trash-talking" and a fistfight after a "buzzer-beater" victory in a Thursday night game between two teams from different west Philadelphia neighborhoods. He said neither team was playing Monday night, but members of both were there to watch other teams.

Members or supporters of the losing team "knew they were going to be there, and when they came out they laid in wait for them and ambushed them," he said. Clark said he didn't believe Barnes, who was supposed to start high school in a few weeks, was the intended target.

"What we're doing now is getting rosters from the kids on that team and the other teams, we're bringing these kids in with their parents and hopefully they'll identify the shooter for us," he said.

Clark said organizers of the playground basketball league for west Philadelphia teenagers said they had been operating for 17 years and have never had a problem of this magnitude.

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