Death on the basketball court

A 27-YEAR-OLD man was fatally gunned down on a North Philadelphia basketball court yesterday afternoon.

Crime-scene investigators did not have far to go. The shooting happened right across the street from the Police Department's state-of-the-art Forensic Crime Center, on 8th Street near Brown, shortly after 2 p.m.

Police said the victim was shot twice in the chest, then walked to the corner of 8th and Poplar, where he collapsed. He was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital and declared dead a short time later.

Grieving family members, who gathered a few blocks away on 10th Street, at the Richard Allen Homes, a public-housing complex, identified the victim as Terrell Washington. They said that the shooting was the result of an ongoing feud with young men from another neighborhood.

"He just happened to be on the basketball court playing ball, and some guys came up in hoodies, told the kids to get down and they just started shooting, and he got hit twice," said a man who identified himself as Washington's uncle. "The boy was 27 years old. He just got finished cooking, doing some stuff, helping out watching the kids and went over there to play some ball."

Another family member who did not wish to be identified said that they did not know whether Washington was the target.

"We don't know if it's intentional or not, all we know is it just happened," the family member said.

Washington's uncle said that his nephew, a father of two, was planning to prepare some food and get together with other family members in the evening to enjoy the rest of the Father's Day holiday. He said that they routinely played basketball at the court on 8th Street.

"That's our park," he said. "That's where we go play our ball at . . . We go over there and chill. That's supposed to be a safe spot for us to go play."

According to Washington's uncle, two shooters fled the scene on bicycles. Police did not provide any information on suspects or a possible motive.

Family members said that Washington loved to read, write music and was an aspiring rap artist. He also enjoyed tattoo art and cooking.

An elderly woman who lives near the scene of the shooting said that she did not hear the gunfire, but was aware of the feud, which she claimed was responsible for multiple shootings last year.

"It's going to happen," she said of yesterday's shooting. "I knew it. That's what I was afraid of."