Sentencing is set to take place Friday for the final suspect in the deadly shooting of a Philadelphia teenager near a high school football field.
In April 2026, Zaakir McClendon, 21, was convicted in the 2022 shooting death of 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde outside of Roxborough High School as well as an unrelated shooting in 2023 that killed 16-year-old Nafis Betrand-Hill.
Elizalde’s mother is expected to speak at McClendon’s sentencing hearing on Sept. 11, 2026. NBC10 is working to confirm when McClendon will be sentenced for Betrand-Hill’s murder.
The murder of Nicolas Elizalde
On Sept. 27, 2022, around 4:40 p.m., police responded to a shooting near the Roxborough High School football field. When they arrived at the scene, they found five shooting victims, including Elizalde. The teen was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly after. Four other victims, all teenagers, sustained gunshot wounds ranging from graze injuries to more serious leg and arm injuries.
Five people were initially arrested and charged in connection with the shooting. After an extensive investigation, detectives who processed the crime scene recovered DNA evidence that matched McClendon.
Detectives then obtained McClendon’s phone records which showed frequent contact around the time of Elizalde’s murder with at least two people already charged in the case.
McClendon was then arrested on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. At that point, McClendon had been arrested and charged a month prior in July 2025 in connection to the deadly shooting of 16-year-old Nafis Betrand-Hill in April 2023.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.