According to his family, 17-year-old Wyanya Archer was on the right track and just a few months shy of graduating high school.
"He loved playing sports, football, baseball, he was on the track team, honor roll student," said his mother, Ivy Connelly.
Afterward graduation, he was going to start working as a welder and buy his first car.
"He had a lot to look forward to," Ivy said.
But those plans changed on Thursday March 11th. At about 8:30 p.m., Wyanya was out with friends on the 4600 block of Hurley Street in Philadelphia's Feltonville section.
The friends he was with say Wyanya got a call from a girl, then told the group that he was going to meet her around the corner.
"They said as soon as he got off the steps and walked around the corner somebody got out of a van and started chasing him and started shooting at him," Ivy explained.
"They just ambushed him," said his stepfather Glenn Turner.
Witnesses say Wyanya collapsed on the street with multiple gunshot wounds to his back. He was taken to the hospital where he later died.
The only description that was given to police is that the suspect was in a light colored minivan, either white or silver.
"What I believe is that every last guy that he was around knows what happened, they know who done it," Ivy said.
The family hopes a $3,000 reward will help lead to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.
Anyone with information is asked to 215-546-TIPS.
