Harley Belance, an 11-year-old male, was killed on the evening of March 26, 2021, in Philadelphia’s Oxford Circle neighborhood, during what began as an ordinary ride through the 1500 block of McKinley Street. Harley was a fifth-grader and had recently turned 11. He was riding a motorized scooter with a 14-year-old friend shortly before 7 p.m. when gunfire suddenly erupted along the residential block.
Police found Harley suffering from a gunshot wound after the shooting.
Some early reports described the wound as being to his neck, while later court-related accounts described him as being struck in the back. His 14-year-old friend was also hit, suffering wounds to the arm and ankle or leg, but survived. Harley was rushed to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. His death devastated his family, who described him as active, kind, helpful, and full of life, a boy who loved basketball, riding bikes, going to church, and helping neighbors carry bags.
Investigators soon focused on Khaleek Cooper-Baldwin, also identified in some reports as Khalif Cooper Baldwin and known by the nickname “Kha.” Police said he was 19 at the time and obtained an arrest warrant for him within days of the shooting. Authorities said he was believed to have fired the shots connected to Harley’s death and the wounding of the teenage boy. Reports at the time said the gunfire came from the steps of a nearby property, and investigators initially said it was unclear whether Harley and his friend were the intended targets. One report later indicated that sources believed the 14-year-old may have been the intended target rather than Harley.
Cooper-Baldwin surrendered to police on March 31, 2021. He was charged with murder in Harley’s death, along with attempted murder, aggravated assault, carrying an unlicensed firearm, and related weapons offenses connected to the shooting that also injured Harley’s friend. After his arrest, he was held without bail as the case moved forward.
Years later, prosecutors described the shooting as something that grew out of a dispute involving teenagers. Harley was reportedly riding the scooter when his 14-year-old friend, who had been involved in an argument or fight with a group of other youths, got onto it. Prosecutors said Cooper-Baldwin inserted himself into that situation and fired multiple shots down the busy neighborhood street. Harley, who was not described as the person at the center of the dispute, was killed in what prosecutors characterized as a “wrong place, wrong time” tragedy.
In March 2026, Cooper-Baldwin was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison for the fatal shooting. Reports on the sentencing said he had admitted responsibility in the case before receiving that prison term. For Harley’s family, the sentence came nearly five years after the night their child was taken from them, but it could not restore the everyday pieces of his life they mourned most: the basketball games, the rides through the neighborhood, the empty place in church, and the future his parents believed he still had ahead of him.
