On the evening of October 4, 2017, gunfire on the 1500 block of South Stanley Street in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of Philadelphia left three people wounded. Eighteen-year-old Rodney Copeland Jr. was shot in the chest and transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead later that evening. Two other men, ages 21 and 20, survived—one found on the street with Rodney and the other inside a nearby house on South Napa Street where Rodney had lived.

Rodney was a high school senior who enjoyed rapping and spending time with family and friends. His mother described him as kind and caring; he was looking forward to prom, graduation and the birth of his son, and had plans to attend college with the goal of becoming a psychiatrist.

Philadelphia police opened a homicide investigation but had not identified a motive or named any suspects, and no arrests had been announced. Anyone who knew Rodney or has information about the shooting is asked to come forward.