In the winter of 2024, a night of youthful recreation in Philadelphia turned into a tragedy that ended the life of 16-year-old Tyshaun Welles. On the evening of Thursday, January 11, Welles, a sophomore at Frankford High School, was with friends at the 15th Street SEPTA station in Center City. They were on their way home from a youth dance program.
Shortly before 9:30 p.m., a disturbance broke out among a large group of young people on the westbound platform of the Market-Frankford Line.
Amid the commotion, a single gunshot rang out, striking Welles in the head. He was rushed to Jefferson University Hospital in extremely critical condition. After several days on life support, doctors determined that he was brain-dead. His family made the difficult decision to remove him from life support, and he passed away on Tuesday, January 16, 2024. Authorities believe Welles was an innocent bystander and not the intended target of the shooting.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, SEPTA Transit Police arrested two teenagers, 18-year-old Quadir Humphrey and 16-year-old Zaire Wilson. Both were initially charged with aggravated assault and related offenses, which were expected to be upgraded to murder following Welles' death. Witnesses reported seeing Humphrey and another individual on the east end of the platform before Humphrey allegedly fired into the crowd.
Further investigation, including a review of SEPTA surveillance video that was not immediately available to prosecutors, revealed that Zaire Wilson was not involved in the shooting. Consequently, all charges against him were dropped in February 2024, and he was released from custody. In January 2025, Quadir Humphrey pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, aggravated assault, and related crimes for the death of Tyshaun Welles. In June 2025, he was sentenced to 17 to 45 years in prison.
