Crime & Justice

Tayshana Murphy, teen basketball star, gunned down in case of mistaken identity

Murphy, 18, one of the top-rated basketball players in the country, was killed in Harlem’s Grant Houses at about 4:10 a.m., police said.

Published

15 years ago

September 11, 2011

UVM Staff

Tayshana Murphy

Tayshana Murphy, a high school basketball star, was fatally shot in the head inside a Manhattan housing project Sunday morning in a slaying her family believes was a tragic case of mistaken identity.

Murphy, 18, one of the top-rated basketball players in the country, was killed in Harlem’s Grant Houses at about 4:10 a.m., police said.

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“She was trying to outrun a gunman in a fourth-floor hallway of the building where she lives,” witnesses said.

Another witness said Murphy “was pleading for her life,” said friend Teka Taylor, 22, who was with Murphy when the violence erupted.

Am”She was saying ‘No, please, I don’t have nothing to do with it.'”

Tayshana Murphy was a star

Murphy, known on the courts by her nickname Chicken, had on Thursday started her senior year at Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers on a basketball scholarship. Several colleges were actively recruiting her.

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Unheard Voices, an award-winning, family owned online news magazine, began in 2004 as a community newsletter serving Neptune, Asbury Park, and Long Branch, N.J. Over time, it grew into a nationally recognized Black-owned media outlet. The publication remains one of the few dedicated to covering social justice issues. Its honors include the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and multiple media innovator awards for excellence in social justice reporting and communications.