It happened around 11:45 p.m. on the 5900 block of Stenton Avenue.
Police say a passerby noticed a body in the grass near the school and called police.
"The call was called into us by a passerby who happened to see the body laying in the grass alongside the high school here," noted Inspector D.F. Pace with Philadelphia police.
At the scene, officers found the victim in the roadway, suffering from three gunshot wounds to the chest.
He was pronounced dead a short time later.
"He does have a gunshot wound to the chest, we believe it was the fatal shot," Pace told Action News.
Investigators say the victim has been identified as 16-year-old William Honesty.
There's no word yet on what sparked the shooting and no arrests have been made.
Officials said Honesty was not a student in the School District of Philadelphia.
He lived just over a quarter of a mile away from where police found his body. Neighbors in the area were shaken by the incident.
"When they first moved, in he only came to about my waist, he was so little. I watched him grow up," said Honesty's neighbor, Eileen Pitt.
"I'm just in shock, I don't even know what to say. This caught me so off guard. I'm sorry," Pitt said.
Investigators did say they are determining whether this incident is connected to another shooting that took place an hour earlier on the 1300 block of East Price Street.
That scene is only half a mile away from where Honesty was found.
"About the same time this call came out, a gunshot victim was brought into Einstein Hospital. That person was 19 years of age," Pace noted.
Sources told Action News someone in a vehicle opened fire on that victim, who was shot in the thigh near an alleyway.
There are multiple surveillance cameras in the area that officers are hoping will assist with the investigation.
Residents in the area said they're concerned with the violence in their neighborhood.
"Something has got to change. Too many young African American males gunned down in the street, it constantly goes on and there's no change," said Pitt.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the police.
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