In the fall of 2017, a simmering rivalry between two Philadelphia high schools tragically boiled over, ending the life of a 16-year-old boy. Messiah Chiverton, a Black / African American junior at Frankford High School, found himself in the midst of a violent confrontation on the afternoon of October 11, 2017. The dispute involved a group of students from his school and another from Northeast High School.
What may have started as a typical teenage conflict escalated into a fatal encounter in the 2100 block of Magee Avenue in the city's Oxford Circle neighborhood.
On that Wednesday afternoon, at around 4:25 p.m., an 18-year-old senior from Northeast High School named Muhammed Goode was seen on a bicycle, chasing a group of teens down the sidewalk while brandishing a semiautomatic handgun. Witnessing this, Messiah Chiverton stepped forward to block the sidewalk and confronted Goode. A struggle for the weapon ensued between the two teenagers, causing the gun to fall to the ground. Goode quickly scrambled to retrieve the firearm. As he picked it up, he fired, striking Chiverton in the head. Goode discharged the weapon twice more toward the fleeing group of teens, though no one else was injured.
A police officer from the Second District witnessed the shooting and pursued Goode, apprehending him after a chase that ended on the 2200 block of Unruh Avenue. A semiautomatic gun was recovered near the scene. Messiah Chiverton was rushed to Aria Jefferson Health-Torresdale Campus in critical condition. He fought for his life for four days before succumbing to his injuries on October 15, 2017. Goode's mother later stated that her son had been the victim of bullying by Chiverton and other teenagers in the weeks leading up to the shooting, an allegation police did not comment on.
Following the incident, Muhammed Goode was arrested and initially charged with attempted murder, weapons offenses, and related counts. After Chiverton's death, the charges were upgraded to murder. In February 2019, Goode, then 19, appeared before a Common Pleas Court Judge and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of third-degree murder and a weapons offense. In exchange for his plea, he was sentenced to 21 to 44 years in prison. During the sentencing, both the prosecutor and Goode himself described the crime as 'senseless.' Goode apologized to Chiverton's family, stating he took full responsibility for his actions. The judge lamented the prevalence of gun violence among young people, questioning how easily they obtained firearms and how quickly fistfights had been replaced by fatal shootings.
