17-Year-Old Found Shot, Killed In Spring Garden
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - An entire neighborhood gathered near a wall at 7th and Green Streets in Spring Garden Saturday night. It's the same wall where police found the body of Dwayne Ballard Jr.
"That's my son," said Dwayne Ballard. "I loved him. I took care of him. It's just sad."
The victim's father said, his son grew up in the area where he was shot and killed.
"He liked to play basketball," said Ballard. "That was like his number one thing."
His friends who played basketball with the Delaware Valley High School hoops star, signed a ball in Ballard's memory and placed it near his favorite shoes.
Friends and family posted several pictures of Ballard and posters with RIP messages, near the wall where the 17-year-old was killed.
"He was playful and he was loving," said one friend.
Youth Director Adam Bruckner from Helping Hand Rescue Mission says he remembers seeing Ballard around the neighborhood.
"He let his basketball game do the talking for him," said Bruckner. "He was incredibly well respected in this neighborhood.
Right now police are looking into a possible motive. They say just after midnight, officers found Ballard on the ground with one gun shot to his back. Investigators say the shot likely came from a someone driving a car.
"My message for these young kids is do whatever they need to do to straighten their life out," said the victim's father. "Do better and don't let something like this happen again."
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Reported by Jericka Duncan, CBS 3
