Sunday, June 15th, 2008

Beau Zabel, a 23 year old teacher who came to Philadelphia six weeks ago, was fatally shot at 1:30 a.m. today, according to an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Zabel’s plan was to come to Philadelphia from Minnesota to experience urban East Coast life and to become a math teacher in the city school system. Zabel had found an apartment in South Philadelphia near the Italian Market and was temporarily working at Starbucks.

Zabel was ambushed as he was walking home from his midnight shift at the coffee shop. He was shot once in the neck. The motive was robbery.

Zabel graduated from Augustana College, a liberal arts school in Rock Island, Ill., where he studied mathematics, Spanish, philosophy, and computer science, the Inquirer said.

He was attracted to teaching, but did not yet have a degree. He was attracted to the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows program because he could teach in the city public schools while getting certified through Drexel at the same time.