Vigil held for 15-year-old shot, killed after basketball game

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) "Everybody loved him. He was a good kid. He was a good kid," cried Tanisha Thomas at a vigil for her 15-year-old son Tyhir Barnes. He died Monday night after being shot in the face.

"He took my baby from me. That's my baby son. They took him away for something so stupid. I'm heartbroken. It hurts so much," she said.

Tyhir' s friends held the vigil at 58th and Ellsworth in Cobbs Creek. Balloons, candles and stuffed animals surround a pole in the neighborhood where he hung out with friends.

"Now God keep us, watch over us, love us, support us and God protect us," said a preacher praying over the crowd.

Police say around ten last Monday night, Tyhir and two friends were leaving a basketball game they watched at 61st and Baltimore Avenue when gunfire erupted. A 15-year old was hit in the ankle and 14-year old Glenn

Butler was shot in the arm. He got out of the hospital today. Police say the shooting stemmed from an argument and fight after a game last week between Tyhir's team and another team. Tyhir's team won.

"You can't take a loss? Everybody take a loss some point. You going to do that your whole life? Shoot somebody every time you take a loss?" said Butler.

Tyhir's family organized a second vigil at the basketball court later in the evening. The crowd rapped lyrics to a song he wrote.
He was an aspiring rapper and basketball player. His mom had a strong message for her son's friends who were there.

"Forget all the snitches get stitches and all that. That was my son. That was yals friend that yal be with every day. So don't act like yal don't know nothing," she said.

No arrests have been made.