18-year-old arrested in fatal shooting of Chester High football player
Jesse Allen Jr., 18, was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Zaheem Sabree, 17, on June 30.
An 18-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder in the June shooting death of 17-year-old Zaheem Sabree, a STEM Academy honor student who played for Chester High School’s football team, police said Tuesday.
Jesse Allen Jr., of Chester, was taken into custody last Thursday in Media and was being held without bail at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility, the Chester Police Department said in a statement.
Less than two months after Sabree’s death, Allen was arrested and charged with a felony gun offense in a separate case, court records show.
Sabree was shot in the head on June 30. Around 6:40 p.m., police were dispatched to the area of 24th and Crosby Streets and found Sabree lying on the ground on the 100 block of East 24th Street. He was transported to Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, where he was pronounced dead.
Police on Tuesday offered no motive for the shooting.
Sabree was a junior at STEM Academy and played for Chester High because the two schools are affiliated in the Chester Upland School District.
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“The shocking passing of Zaheem is a major loss for our school community and affects everyone from classmates to teachers who had the privilege of knowing him,” a spokesperson for the school district said in a statement after Sabree’s death.
”His dedication and spirit as a member of our High School football program is irreplaceable and he will be missed by his teammates and coaches, who remember him not just as a player, but as a friend on and off the field,” the district spokesperson said.
Other teen athletes playing for Chester High have been killed by gun violence in recent years.
In 2017, Zion Abdullah, a 16-year-old football player, was killed on his way to school. In 2020, Edward Harmon, 15, who played football and basketball at Chester, died in a shooting that left another teen dead and two others wounded.