[This story was originally published by The Trace,<\/a> a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here.<\/a>] <\/p>\n Three and a half weeks later, Philadelphia authorities announced murder charges for two suspects in Schmidt\u2019s killing, both 16 years old. Authorities arrested one of them in Colorado, where he had allegedly gone to hide out after the shooting. The teen accused of pulling the trigger turned himself in the following day.<\/p>\n The quick capture of the suspects is part of a broader trend in Philadelphia. Over the past 10 years, the share of homicides solved or otherwise cleared by police has nearly doubled, from 45 percent in 2016 to 82 percent last year, according to data obtained by The Trace. The clearance rate for nonfatal shootings climbed 15 percentage points, to more than 40 percent, over the same period.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Police and researchers attribute the increases to multiple factors. One is the dramatic drop in homicides over the past few years, which has freed detectives to devote more time to each case. Officials also credit the growing use of crime-solving technology and forensic science.<\/p>\n The clearance rate is calculated by comparing the number of cases police close in a given year with the number of crimes committed that year. Because police may close cases from previous years, the clearance rate can be greater than 100 percent. Not all cases are closed with an arrest: Police may clear a case if the suspected perpetrator dies or cannot be arrested for reasons outside the department\u2019s control. Still, the clearance rate is a widely used barometer of how effectively police solve crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen your numbers are coming down, you have the ability to spend really good quality time on investigations,\u201d <\/p>\n Philadelphia\u2019s clearance rate is now greater than many other large cities. New York City, Chicago, Houston, and Baltimore had clearance rates between 65 and 79 percent last year. Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles have fared better, with clearance rates of 85 percent and 101 percent, respectively.<\/p>\n The Trace also analyzed the share of homicides from each of the past 10 years that police have solved. Unlike the clearance rate, this measure counts only cases from the year in which the homicides occurred, excluding older cases that were solved later.<\/p>\n Of the 222 homicides committed last year, 157 \u2014 nearly 71 percent \u2014 have been solved, a higher share than for any other year in the past decade. Police have solved 263 \u2014 about 47 percent \u2014 of the 562 homicides committed in 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic pushed violence to record levels.<\/p>\n On the night he was killed, Schmidt went to a bar just blocks from his lifelong home to watch the New York Knicks play the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. After leaving the bar and walking back onto his block, Schmidt was attacked.<\/p>\n Within a week of the slaying, police released surveillance video<\/a> of the two prime suspects with detailed descriptions of what each was wearing. On June 11, several hundred people gathered at the place where Schmidt was shot to grieve with his family and friends and to call for justice.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the Philly Police Department does a great job,\u201d Frank Scales, a local conservative activist who went to high school with Schmidt, said during the vigil. \u201cI think they\u2019re going to get to the bottom of who murdered Billy Schmidt.\u201d<\/p>\n Bill Schmidt, the victim\u2019s father, said he is planning to sell his home and move away from the neighborhood where he raised his son. Within eyeshot of his front door is a shrine of candles, flowers, and balloons marking the spot where his son was attacked.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t be across the street,\u201d the elder Schmidt said. \u201cMy son never hurt anybody or had any kind of a confrontation with anybody. He was just the nicest kid.\u201d<\/p>\n A homicide detective regularly called Schmidt to update him on the case, he said. Schmidt is grateful the police made arrests. \u201cI\u2019m happy,\u201d he said. \u201cI know they\u2019ve been on the case, and they\u2019re doing a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n Killings down, arrests up <\/p>\n Philadelphia has long been dubbed \u201cKilladelphia<\/a>\u201d by some locals and visitors, a reference to its history of violence. But as the summer unfolds \u2014 the season when crime typically peaks<\/a> \u2014 the nation\u2019s sixth-largest city is seeing violence decline.<\/p>\n As of July 12 Philadelphia has had 93 homicides<\/a> in 2026, down 23 percent from the same period last year and nearly 70 percent from 2021, when the city endured more than 280 killings over that time frame.<\/p>\n The decline has given detectives more time to work cases. \u201cWhen your numbers are coming down, you have the ability to spend really good quality time on investigations,\u201d said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel. The department is also receiving more tips from the community and is making greater use of cameras and technology to access cellphones, read car license plates, and speed up the processing of DNA. \u201cAll of that ecosystem of activity has created this synergy that helps us,\u201d Bethel added.<\/p>\n Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said another factor in the improved clearance rates is the Police Department\u2019s Shooting Investigation Group,<\/a> which launched in 2022 to direct more resources to solving nonfatal shootings. Krasner also cited his 2018 decision to merge<\/a> his office\u2019s Homicide and Nonfatal Shooting units. \u201cThose are good ideas because you get all the people who specialize in a thing, and they\u2019re sharing information,\u201d Krasner said. \u201cIt\u2019s very encouraging to me to see the most modern techniques being used.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan Semenza, an associate professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University and director of research with the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center,<\/a> agreed that the declining body count is helping drive up the clearance rate. \u201cWhen clearance rates are higher and more cases are being solved, that\u2019s communicating to families and the community that the work is getting done and the investigators are yielding some type of just outcomes,\u201d he said. \u201cIt helps build trust.\u201d<\/p>\n Cynthia Johnson said the resolution of her grandson\u2019s murder strengthened her trust in police. In 2022, her grandson, Naasire Johnson, 20, was fatally shot and his body set on fire. Police arrested Naasire\u2019s killer, Kylen Pratt,<\/a> four months later, and he was sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n The share of homicides solved or otherwise cleared by police has nearly doubled, from 45 percent in 2016 to 82 percent last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThey did a good job, the D.A. and the homicide detectives,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey said they were going to find out what happened, and they did.\u201d<\/p>\n The investigation revealed that Naasire and Pratt were secretly dating, and Pratt did not want anyone to know about their relationship, police and prosecutors said. Naasire went missing after visiting Pratt\u2019s North Philadelphia home. Three days later, two passersby found Naasire\u2019s charred body on a trail in Fairmount Park.<\/p>\n Acting on an anonymous tip, detectives obtained a warrant to search Pratt\u2019s cellphone and uncovered evidence that placed him with Naasire when the murder occurred. They also found deleted internet searches about the recovery of Naasire\u2019s body, sex with dead people, and the traits of a psychopath. A search of Pratt\u2019s home yielded Nassire\u2019s blood on carpet padding and a hardwood floor, as well as a 9 mm gun with ammunition consistent with the bullet found in Naasire\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n Johnson said she does not want Naasire to be forgotten, so she speaks about him whenever possible. This month, she was interviewed for a documentary series about his case that will air next year on the TV One cable channel. \u201cEven though I got my justice, I feel like there should have been more coverage on the way that he was murdered,\u201d she told The Trace. \u201cI feel as though what he did to my grandson was so wrong. You already shot and killed him. What was the need to burn his body?\u201d<\/p>\n Left Out in the Cold <\/p>\n Despite the improved clearance rate, many families are still waiting for answers about the killing of their loved ones. Among them is Rhonda Gore, whose son, Shelton Hayes<\/a>, was killed in 2018, three days after his 39th birthday. He was fatally shot in the living room of the home he shared with his mother in the Overbrook Park neighborhood.<\/p>\n His death led Gore to seek counseling from the EMIR Healing Center<\/a>, a Philadelphia nonprofit that helps people who\u2019ve lost someone to violent crime. She now works as an administrator for EMIR, which stands for Every Murder Is Real. The position keeps her up to date on the city\u2019s violence issue.<\/p>\n For Gore, the improved clearance rate provides little comfort. The same is true, she said, for the other survivors she works with whose loved ones\u2019 murders also remain unsolved. \u201cI call, and I leave emails asking if there\u2019s been any developments. Eight years later, I\u2019m told there\u2019s absolutely nothing,\u201d Gore said. \u201cWho are they clearing? Who are they assisting?\u201d<\/p>\n Schaine Isaac has had similar frustrations. In August 2021, Isaac\u2019s only child, 18-year-old Khyrie Isaac, was sitting with his girlfriend, 19-year-old Ojanae Thompson, in a rented BMW outside a grocery store in Philadelphia\u2019s Olney section. Another vehicle pulled up, and three men emerged and fired more than 20 rounds into the BMW, striking the couple multiple times, police said<\/a>. Khyrie, a standout wide receiver on his high school football team, died that day. Thompson succumbed to her injuries two weeks later.<\/p>\n Isaac said he passed tips about the identities of the shooters to detectives, but he\u2019s not heard of any progress. \u201cThey still haven\u2019t found anything yet,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s still an open case. Whenever I call, it\u2019s always nothing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would like some more information \u2014 some sympathy. Imagine if it was your kid,\u201d Isaac added. \u201cCan I let go of my son? No. He was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Bill Schmidt looks through photos of his son, Billy Schmidt, while standing for a portrait at his home on July 9, 2026. Photo by Kriston Jae Bethel for The Trace. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"William \u201cBilly\u201d Schmidt was walking home from a South Philadelphia bar in early June when two masked thieves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[624,758,336,69,71,70,595,8957],"class_list":["post-243036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-district-attorney","tag-gun-violence","tag-larry-krasner","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia-police-department","tag-the-trace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243036","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=243036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Rhonda Gore stands in the entrance to her home in Philadelphia on Friday, June 26, 2026. Gore\u2019s son Shelton Hayes was shot and killed at the home they shared in 2018. Photo by Kriston Jae Bethel for The Trace. <\/p>\n
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