What Happened To College Basketball Player Phil Urban?
Police arrived at the Hopewell Valley Nature Preserve in Hopewell Township and found Urban “slumped over” in the driver’s seat of a Mercedes on a trail. He was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center but was pronounced dead on arrival from a gunshot wound. Through four games this early season, the 6’6″ Urban played a total of 10 minutes and recorded two rebounds, an assist and a steal. He was welcomed as a scholarship athlete back in April on the school’s Twitter account.
@philurban0 👀👀 https://t.co/ID2PpB2BqI pic.twitter.com/nbBqK188b9
— Post University Men’s Basketball (@Post_Eagles_MBB) April 28, 2022
Who Murdered Phil Urban?Â
Police are investigating Urban’s death and are treating it as a homicide. It is believed that Urban went to the preserve to meet someone.
No arrests have been made at this time.
University President and CEO John Hopkins said the community is mourning Urban’s death.
“Philip modeled the attributes of leadership, commitment and hard work on the court and in the classroom,” Hopkins said in a statement. “We hope that his family, friends and those affected by his passing will find strength during this extremely difficult time.”
Who Was Phil Urban?
Head coach Marc Kuntz remembered a quiet kid who loved being a part of the team and taking part in basketball.
“Phil loved the game of basketball,” Post men’s basketball head coach Marc Kuntz said in a phone interview on Monday. “He would spend a lot of time in the gym. He loved our program, he loved the guys. He loved hanging out with them.
“Phil was well liked by everyone in the Post community. His quiet sense of humor was infectious and he was a valuable part of our basketball program.
“He was a good kid. He had no issues at Post. I cannot speak to the situation other than to say that it’s tragic.”
Urban graduated from The Pennington School in New Jersey, which is not too far from the preserve where his body was discovered.
While in high school, he played club basketball for the New Jersey Panthers; that team also issued a statement on his death.
“As the Panther family is deeply saddened by the loss of one of our own, we need to recognize how much happiness Phil brought to this organization and those around it,” the Panthers said in a statement. “He had a great sense of humor and was one of the most well-liked student-athletes in our organization by both players and staff alike.”
According to Gun Violence Archive, the total number of gun-related deaths this year, including suicides, as of 12/19, is 42,765.
Real-time U.S. gun violence statistics* for 2022, as of December 19th:
•19,467 gun deaths
•37,428 gun injuries
•635 mass shootings
•969 children shot
•4,983 teenagers shot
•1,117 defensive use incidents
•1,535 unintentional shootings
•~23,298 suicides*— The Gun Violence Archive (@GunDeaths) December 20, 2022
We have a serious gun problem in this country and every year thousands of people die unnecessarily because we have elected officials that choose to make gun control a partisan issue. They use it to score political points with their base in order to secure election or re-election, so they can line their pockets with PAC money, and not do the one thing they were elected to.
Serve the will of the people, before we have to mourn another Phil Urban. Stay tuned for more details.
