Two questioned after star female basketball player shot dead execution style at housing block

• Tayshana 'Chicken' Murphy, 18, killed in Harlem
  
• Her body was found by her mother
• Teenager might have been victim of mistaken identity
  

By Mark Duell
Updated: 14:36 EST, 12 September 2011

Two people are being questioned by police after one of the most highly-rated high school basketball players in the U.S. was been fatally shot in the head inside her housing block.

Tayshana ‘Chicken’ Murphy, 18, was found dead by her mother in their Harlem building in Harlem early on Sunday morning.

The top basketball prospect was a senior at Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan and was due to become captain of her team this year.

Tragedy: Tayshana 'Chicken' Murphy, 18, was found dead by her mother in their Harlem building in Manhattan, New York, early Sunday morning

Ms Murphy lived on the 15th floor of her building but was shot in the head execution style at 4:14am in a fourth-floor hallway, according to police

But solid details surrounding the tragic shooting are otherwise scarce, as no suspects have been named and police are reviewing surveillance tape.

A source told the New York Post that two people who may have information about the case are being grilled by police.

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Ms Murphy and her friends reportedly got into an argument with thugs and she was chased into her building when neighbours became rowdy.

A fight broke out and witnesses believe she may have been mistaken for a boy as she was wearing a hoodie.

Tephanie Holston said her daughter came up to her flat 45 minutes before the shooting to get a sweatshirt and use the bathroom.

Basketball memorial: Her mother Tephanie Holston said she was in high demand from top local colleges after a promising career through high school

When Ms Holston heard gunfire she took the lift downstairs and then ran up the building before tragically finding her daughter herself.

‘I held her in my hands. She looked like she was sleeping. I said “Chicken, come, we gotta play basketball”'

Tephanie Holston, mother of Tayshana ‘Chicken’ Murphy

‘I held her in my hands,’ she told the Wall Street Journal. ‘She looked like she was sleeping. I said “Chicken, come, we gotta play basketball”.’

Ms Holston said her daughter had been playing basketball since she was aged three and passed the ball though her legs aged five.

Ms Murphy had told her she wanted to support her family by playing in the Women's National Basketball Association and ‘get us out of the projects’.

Scene: Ms Murphy lived on the 15th floor of her building in Harlem, pictured, but was shot in the head at 4:14am in a fourth-floor hallway

Ms Murphy was noticed playing for Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn, New York, before she moved to Murry Bergtraum as a junior.

'She was a very warm (and) caring person, and very much respected by the other kids'

Murry Bergtraum High School basketball coach Ed Grezinsky

Her mother said she was in high demand from top local colleges.

She got the nickname ‘chicken’ because of how she walked, reported ESPN.

Her school has won the Public Schools Athletic League women's championships 13 years in a row. Two alumni have gone into the WNBA.

‘She was a very warm (and) caring person, and very much respected by the other kids,’ her coach Ed Grezinsky told the Wall Street Journal.

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