The study sample was drawn from the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a longitudinal survey of the causes and correlates of delinquency. The study included three samples of boys who were in grades 1, 4, and 7 when the study began in 1987-88. Potential participants were randomly selected from a list of all boys enrolled in these grades in the Pittsburgh public schools. The study addressed the following questions: How high is the gun mortality and gun injury rate among juveniles in a population of high-risk urban youth? How do gunshot victims differ from other at-risk youth in terms of social and family background and delinquency? What circumstances surround homicide deaths of juveniles in a high-risk population? The findings show that by age 19, almost 1 in 10 of the 506 participants in the oldest sample had been seriously wounded or killed. Two-thirds of this group had been either wounded or killed by guns. Victims, compared to controls, tended to have a history of engaging in serious delinquency, gang fights, and selling drugs. They also tended to carry guns. The delinquent lifestyle of the victims was also evident from their court records. Victims tended to do poorly academically in school, received poorer parental supervision, had poorer communications with their parents, and had a long history of behavior problems. Two and one-half times as many African-Americans compared to white males were wounded or killed. All of the homicide victims were African-American. 4 tables and 39 references