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15-Year-Old Murdered in Harlem Wanted More New Yorkers to Donate Organs

By DNAinfo Staff on September 27, 2010 5:09pm  | Updated on September 28, 2010 6:21am

A photo of murdered 15-year-old George White of Harlem was posted on a memorial outside his home.
A photo of murdered 15-year-old George White of Harlem was posted on a memorial outside his home.
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DNAinfo/Jon Schuppe

By Jon Schuppe

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

HARLEM — Sharon Cherry was talking about planning her 15-year-old son’s funeral when she stopped mid-sentence, oblivious to the rain soaking her sweatshirt.

"This is where it happened," she said Monday, pointing to the sidewalk. "Right here."

Cherry’s son, George White, was shot in the torso late Friday night, a few feet from the building at Mother Zion-McMurray Apartments on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, near 140th Street, where he grew up. He stumbled to the door, Cherry said, but collapsed before he made it inside.

"He was trying to make it home," Cherry, 42, said.

Just a few days before he was killed, George, a junior at Park West High School in Midtown, asked his mother why more people didn’t donate their organs when they died. Inspired by that conversation, Cherry said she was making her son an organ donor.

Memorial to George White, 15, outside the door of his apartment building on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem.
Memorial to George White, 15, outside the door of his apartment building on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem.
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DNAinfo/Jon Schuppe

And she remembered her son as a "good kid," a "sharp dresser" and "a ladies’ man."

No one has been arrested for the shooting, but police told Cherry they’re working on it.

Police are "exploring" whether George had been in a fight at a party just before the shooting, and whether the attack was gang related, the Daily News reported.

On Monday, friends continued to write messages on a makeshift memorial to George at the entrance to the apartment building. The messages reflected their sadness and anger.

"I know you still here…I can feel it!" one said

"Who every (sic) killed George gonna get it!!!" said another.