Juan Carlos Robles-Corana was a 15-year-old eighth grader shot to death on Monday, April 4, 2022, within steps of his school and home in North Philadelphia. Officers responded about 2:42 p.m. to the 2200 block of North 15th Street after Juan Carlos was found with multiple gunshot wounds. He had just left Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School and was walking to pick up his younger brothers when gunfire erupted; officers put him in a patrol vehicle and rushed him to Temple University Hospital, where he died that afternoon.

Investigators described the attack as an ambush. Early accounts differed on how many shooters fired and how many rounds were discharged, reporting about 20 shots in one statement and nearly 30 in another; Juan Carlos was struck four times, including in the torso. Police said the shooting appeared to follow fights or a confrontation over the preceding weekend. Family members and classmates gathered afterward near 15th and Susquehanna Streets to mourn, and his mother, Maria Balbuena, publicly demanded answers.

Juan Carlos, known to loved ones as JR, was remembered as a charismatic child who had recently helped his family shelter a friend whose home had been riddled with bullets. That detail underscored how shockingly close the violence was to his daily life. Does anyone who knew JR or witnessed events around the school that day have information to share?