An aspiring rapper was killed in a daylight shooting on a North Philadelphia porch. Jerry Gooden, 32, known to family as Tay, was on the porch of his relatives’ home on the 1100 block of West Somerset Street at about 11:30 a.m. on November 12, 2020, writing lyrics when gunfire erupted. Gooden was struck in the neck and buttocks, ran into the house and told relatives he had been shot, and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at Temple University Hospital.

The gunfire also struck Gooden’s 4-year-old cousin, Zylah McQueen, who was hit in the chest, shoulder and arm and taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children; she was later reported in stable condition. Police had not made any arrests or recovered a weapon from the scene, and family members said Gooden had only recently moved into his aunt’s home and didn’t know anyone in the neighborhood. The investigation remains open.

If anyone saw the shooting on West Somerset Street or has information about who fired on the porch that morning, please share what is known with investigators.