Levan Kennedy, an 18-year-old male, was driving to school on the morning of March 8, 2022, with plans to give a semester-end presentation. As he sat in his gold Chevy Malibu in the Oxford Circle section of Northeast Philadelphia, he was fatally shot. The incident occurred around 8:45 a.m. on the 6400 block of Loretto Street, less than two blocks from his home. He was found inside his car with gunshot wounds to his head and left leg.
Emergency services transported him to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 9 a.m.
Known to his close family as Colin and as Van to his friends, Levan was described as a gifted wordsmith with a profound thirst for knowledge. He was a talented rapper and music producer who also had entrepreneurial ambitions, including owning a solar-powered vending machine business and investing in real estate. Following the death of his father at the age of 13, Levan felt a strong sense of responsibility to protect his mother and younger sister. He expressed his fears and hopes for his family and his city in his music.
The investigation into Levan Kennedy's death is ongoing, and as of now, no arrests have been made, and no weapon has been recovered. Authorities have released surveillance footage showing a gunman opening fire from a passing SUV while Levan was stopped at a red light. A reward of up to $20,000 is available for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for his murder. In his honor, his school, el Centro, organized a City Hall rally and a talent show and awarded him a posthumous diploma. Deeply affected by the violence, his mother and sister moved out of Philadelphia shortly after his death, a desire Levan had expressed in one of his songs for his sister's well-being.
