Shots rang out as kids boarded the bus home from school, leaving one teen dead and four injured

Just minutes after Imhotep Institute Charter High School dismissed its students for the day, kids were sent running for their lives.

About 3:45 p.m. Monday, as a group of students boarded SEPTA’s No. 6 bus to head home, police say, two young men in hoodies and masks ran up from behind, guns in hand.

They fired indiscriminately at close range at least 40 times, police said, spraying bullets among the crowd of kids and through the bus windows. In total, five people were shot, including a 14-year-old boy and a 71-year-old woman.

As the shooters closed in on the group in Ogontz, in North Philadelphia, police said, they strode toward Dayemen Taylor, a 17-year-old Imhotep student, and shot him multiple times. He died minutes later — targeted, police said, for reasons detectives don’t yet understand. Taylor, they said, was a respected student with no prior contact with law enforcement. And while investigators are looking into whether a fight at Imhotep earlier in the day may have led to the shooting, the motive remained unclear and no arrests had been made, said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore.

» READ MORE: Twenty-four children were killed in shootings last year in Philadelphia. These are their stories.

But what is clear is that an area that is supposed to be safe ground, filled with watchful eyes, police escorts, and school staff, became a crime scene — dozens of spent shell casings littering the ground, and a single white New Balance sneaker left in the middle of the road.

“It’s a tragedy of so many ways,” said Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel. “When you break the sanctity of a school setting, and you lose a child, a student on their way home from school.”

Two other Imhotep students were struck by stray bullets, a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the shoulder and a 14-year-old grazed on his back. Two women seated on the bus were also injured — a 50-year-old who was grazed in the arm, and a 71-year-old toting groceries who was shot in the top of her forehead. The elder victim’s injury required surgery, Vanore said, but she is stable, and was awake and speaking with detectives Tuesday morning.

The case brought District Attorney Larry Krasner to tears on Tuesday, and he vowed swift justice.

“This is an absolute outrage. It will be solved, and those responsible will be vigorously prosecuted,” he said.

Taylor’s family, overwhelmed with grief, declined to speak Tuesday. Loved ones streamed on and off their Fern Rock block, exchanging hugs, words of comfort, and food.

Imhotep, an African-centered charter school with a science, technology engineering and mathematics focus, was closed to students on Tuesday. Classes will be virtual on Wednesday, and students will return to a “wellness day” Thursday, officials said. Bethel said police don’t often see issues at the school, and that it has a strong safety team.

Andre Noble, Imhotep’s chief executive officer, said that “the last 24 hours have been our greatest fear.”

Taylor was a vital part of the school community, he said — the first to participate in celebrations or grade-wide challenges, full of school spirit and laughter. Taylor was one of a long line of people in his family who attended the school, said Noble, who has known the family for 20 years.

On Taylor’s last day of school Monday, he was actively engaged in the school’s STEM week, working with a chemist to split water molecules and produce hydrogen in class, Noble said.

“Everybody in the building knew him. He was always very curious, a hands-on learner, and that’s how we want to remember him,” he said.

Classmates took to social media to remember their friend, whom they called “Dame.” One post showed Taylor singing “Baby” by Justin Bieber, dancing and hitting high notes during karaoke with classmates. Another showed him leading chants as a manager of the school’s men’s basketball team.

“You broke the whole school with this one,” the team said in a post. “You know you were always loved and you made us all happy.”

Noble said teammates, in a group chat, have been exchanging messages of “I love you” all day.

“Sometimes a tragedy like this makes you say things you don’t normally say,” he said.

The number of shootings in Philadelphia has slowed in recent months. The city has recorded 52 homicides so far this year, the lowest total since 2018. The pace of juveniles shot in the city has also declined.

But just one shooting leaves immense trauma and fear in its wake — a cycle that can upend peoples’ physical and emotional health, and sometimes lead to more shootings — especially when a victim is so young.

“Watching kids get shot at the doorstep of the school, a few blocks from school, those things are just hard to comprehend,” said Bethel. “And it just shows you the level of violence we’re dealing with.”