Xzavier Gregory, 16, was shot and killed Oct. 11. He is one of 11 children under 18 killed in Philadelphia this year. Read more Courtesy of Angelica Javier

by Ellie Rushing Published Nov. 17, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET

Angelica Javier was sitting at home on a Saturday evening last month when her son’s uncle called in a panic.

Xzavier, her 16-year-old, had been shot, he said — one of the teen’s friends had called and told him, but he knew nothing else.

Javier, 32, frantically checked a news website and saw a brief story mentioning that a man was shot and killed in Northeast Philadelphia .

That could not be her son, she told herself. Xzavier was only a boy, she said — tall but lanky, with the splotchy beginnings of a mustache just appearing on his upper lip.

She called around to h

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