{"id":184469,"date":"2026-05-05T16:38:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/184469\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:38:32","slug":"shooter-17-pleads-to-3rd-degree-murder-in-death-of-16-year-old-khalif-webster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/184469\/","title":{"rendered":"Shooter, 17, pleads to 3rd degree murder in death of 16-year-old Khalif Webster"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Upper Darby juvenile who shot and killed 16-year-old Khalif Webster<\/a> last year entered an open guilty plea to third-degree murder and firearms not to be carried without a license before Common Pleas Court Judge Deborah Krull.<\/p>\n

A first-degree murder charge was dismissed against 17-year-old Michael Nixon under the plea worked out by Deputy District Attorney Sophia Polites and defense counsel Pete Manaras.<\/p>\n

As a juvenile, Nixon would have faced a minimum 35 years to life for first-degree murder. He instead faces a maximum 23\u00bd-47 years in a state prison.<\/p>\n

\"MugshotMichael Nixon (Courtesy of Upper Darby Police Department)
\nBackground of the case<\/p>\n

Police initially reported Webster was shot to death during an argument between two juveniles on the afternoon of May 18 at Long Lane and Pine Street. Investigators released an image of the suspected shooter captured by a camera and asked for the public\u2019s assistance in identifying him.<\/p>\n

Nixon turned himself in to police on May 20 and was charged as an adult.<\/p>\n

According to an affidavit of probable cause for Nixon\u2019s arrest written by Detective William Gottsch:<\/p>\n

Detectives recovered surveillance video on Long Lane that showed the victim riding a miniature dirt bike from the 7200 block of Pine Street onto the 300 block of Long Lane at 2:55 p.m.<\/p>\n

At 2:56 p.m., the surveillance captured audio of an unknown person asking, \u201cYou that young bull I seen the other day? You better not be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unknown person then said something muffled, followed immediately by a gunshot.<\/p>\n

A white male wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt with a logo on the left side of the chest, black pants, black sneakers and a cross-body bag was then seen fleeing from the 300 block of Long Lane.<\/p>\n

Video captured him tucking an unknown object, presumably a firearm, into his waistband, using his right hand.<\/p>\n

The suspect then raised a red mobile phone to his face with his left hand and stated, \u201cI just shot somebody in their chest, bro!\u201d<\/p>\n

Detectives obtained additional surveillance showing the suspect running through the neighborhood onto the 7200 block of Radbourne Avenue, then to Chapman Playground and on to the trail behind the 300 block of Essex Avenue and on to Houston Avenue.<\/p>\n

Police canvassed the path and made contact with a witness who had been seen on one of the videos washing his vehicle in the alley near Lamport Road. That witness stated he recognized the suspect as someone who formerly lived on the unit block of Oxford Street.<\/p>\n

On May 19, police obtained information on that former resident, finding they had an address on the first block of North State Road. The following day, police served two search warrants, including one on the State Road residence, where they recovered two fired cartridge casings, two handgun frames and a black cross-body bag.<\/p>\n

A witness at the home agreed to go to the police station to give a statement. That witness told police they received a call from Nixon between 3:30 and 4 p.m. on May 18 stating he had just shot somebody.<\/p>\n

After the call, the witness picked up Nixon at the Dollar General on Union Avenue in Lansdowne. He told the witness at that time that he had a dispute with Webster a day or two earlier.<\/p>\n

The witness told police Nixon saw Webster walking on Long Lane and got into an argument with him, then shot him. Nixon additionally told the witness that Webster was riding a mini-dirt bike, which was consistent with the surveillance video.<\/p>\n

Webster was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center following the shooting, but lifesaving efforts were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Nixon and Webster were both students at Upper Darby High School. The reason for the argument and the motive for the shooting remain unknown.<\/p>\n

Scheduled hearing<\/p>\n

Nixon had been scheduled for a decertification hearing Thursday to determine whether his case would remain in adult court or be transferred to juvenile court.<\/p>\n

A member of Webster\u2019s family, who asked not to be identified, said they were alerted Wednesday that the hearing would instead be a plea to third-degree murder.<\/p>\n

That family member claimed the Delaware County District Attorney\u2019s Office had been dismissive of their concerns since the beginning of the prosecution nearly a year ago and that the bait-and-switch of the plea was just the latest disrespect visited upon the grieving family.<\/p>\n

District Attorney Tanner Rouse said it would be inappropriate to go into any specifics of the case because it remains open and that he would more fully address any family concerns after sentencing.<\/p>\n

He did say, however, that his office took the case extremely seriously from the beginning, charging Nixon with first-degree murder, the highest offense possible. He acknowledged the plea was not ideal, and happened quickly, so he understood the frustration, but said his office had attempted to work with Webster\u2019s family throughout the process.<\/p>\n

Rouse also disputed the Webster family representative\u2019s claim that there was some racial bias involved in the plea.<\/p>\n

Any plea in almost any murder case is going to be to third-degree murder, Rouse said, because first-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence. Unless state execution is on the table, there is no downside for a defendant to go to trial on that charge and no reason to ever plead to it.<\/p>\n

Sentencing is set for June 25 pending a presentence investigation.<\/p>\n

Daily Times reporter Pete Bannan contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Upper Darby juvenile who shot and killed 16-year-old Khalif Webster last year entered an open guilty plea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[46,212,182,139,28,210,147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-184469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-courts","tag-delaware-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-dtd","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}