July 1, 2002

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A high school football player with a scholarship to Syracuse was shot and killed Saturday in a hail of gunfire.

Omain Gullette, 19, was standing on a southwest Philadelphia street corner with a friend Saturday afternoon when three gunman rounded the corner and started shooting. Gullette was shot 13 times in the chest and pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Police said they believe a previous disagreement prompted the killing, but the shooting, in which at least 30 rounds were fired, was still under investigation.

Gullette, known in the neighborhood as "Fats," was a defensive tackle for Glen Mills High School in Concordville. He was a first team all-state defensive lineman and was to play in the Big 33 Classic on July 20, a statewide all-star high school football game.

He had been arrested four times before coming to Glen Mills, a school where troubled youths are sent by criminal courts. But administrators said he had turned his life around.

Gullette was also a star in the shot put and discus on the Glen Mills track team. He served as student government president his senior year.