20-Year-Old Basketball Player From NJ Shot Dead In Nature Preserve

HOPEWELL, NJ - A 20-year-old college basketball player from Monmouth County died of a gunshot wound he sustained during a meeting with an acquaintance at a Mercer County nature preserve, authorities said.

At around 7 p.m. on Saturday, Hopewell police found a white Mercedes C300 on a trail at the Hopewell Valley Nature Preserve off of Harbourton-Woodsville Road with a man “slumped over the driver’s seat,” the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

The victim, identified as Phillip Urban of Manalapan, was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound a short time later, the prosecutor’s office said.

An initial investigation found that Urban planned to meet an acquaintance at the preserve and was shot at some point during the interaction, authorities said. No arrests have been made as of Monday morning.

The shooting is currently under investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the Hopewell Township Police Department, officials said. Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office at (609) 989-6406 or Hopewell police at (609) 737-3100 ext. 5740. Information can also be emailed to mchtftips@mercercounty.org.

Urban was a Pennington School graduate and joined the Post University basketball team in Connecticut earlier this year, according to the New York Post. He played his first college basketball game for the team last month, NJ101.5 added.

“As a member of the Men's basketball team and a Business Administration major, Philip modeled the attributes of leadership and commitment and hard work on the court and in the classroom,” Post University CEO and President John Hopkins said in a statement to multiple media outlets.

WELCOME…Phil Urban. Phil is a 6’6 skilled wing from Manapalan NJ who can play multiple positions. We are excited about what Phil will add to our team both as a player and person. Welcome to the nest, Phil! #Signed 🦅🏀🟠🟣 @philurban0 @njpanthersboys @TPSBasketball pic.twitter.com/1xLy2UNLuy
— Post University Men’s Basketball (@Post_Eagles_MBB) April 28, 2022