16-year-old shot to death while riding his bike

For Saleem West, basketball was life. The courts at Richard Wright Elementary School were closest, at the end of his block on North Marston Street, past three boarded-up rowhouses.

"Every time you saw him," said Patricia Everett, 50, a cousin, "he had a ball in his hand."

On Monday, in front of one of the vacant homes, two basketballs lay among an array of stuffed animals. Family and friends gathered to erect a memorial for West, 16, who was killed Sunday afternoon in a burst of 17 gunshots.

One of the bullets, fired on the 2200 block of West Sedgley Avenue in North Philadelphia, struck West in the back shortly before 5 p.m. At the time, West was riding his bike with a 15-year-old friend, who was unharmed.

Police said they had no motive for the shooting of the teen, whose friends called him "Leem."

"There had been several shootings in the area," Homicide Capt. James Clark said. "We're looking to see if this could be linked."

The mother of the 15-year-old friend said both boys were headed to her house because she had left them money for pizza.

"They tried to execute a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old," she said. "Are you serious? They're kids."

West, his family said, attended Delaware Valley Charter High School. The block planned a vigil for Monday night.

Clark asked for the public's help in identifying what he described as a "silver, four-door vehicle" that was driven off Sedgley.

"We think someone knows who did this," Clark said. "It happened in broad daylight."

Isiah Armstrong, 13, said West always wore No. 3 when he played in neighborhood basketball leagues. A poster with handwritten condolences circulated around the block.

"Ball is life," someone wrote over a red heart with a red marker.

mgelb@philly.com

215-854-2928@MattGelb