4 days ago
Zaakir McClendon arrested nearly 3 years after fatal shooting near Roxborough High School football field
Nearly three years later, Philadelphia police have arrested a sixth suspect in the 2022 shooting that killed 14-year-old Roxborough High School student Nicolas Elizalde and injured four other people.
Zaakir McClendon, 20, has been arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and other offenses, officers said in a news release. McClendon had already been arrested on murder charges for an unrelated fatal shooting that occurred in April 2023 in North Philadelphia.
The Roxborough shooting happened after school on Sept. 27, 2022, near the school's football field. Police said Elizalde and others were leaving a football scrimmage and walking on the 300 block of Fairway Terrace when an SUV pulled up alongside them — then five people got out and opened fire.
Police have said Elizalde wasn't the intended target, but the motive isn't clear. The four others, all teenagers, had a range of gunshot injuries - some had graze wounds while others had more serious leg and arm injuries.
Five other suspects have been arrested for the shooting, and two suspects — Troy Fletcher and Zyhied Jones — pleaded guilty. Jones was sentenced to 30 to 60 in prison.
Police said ballistic evidence showed multiple people's DNA on the bullet casings found at the scene.
While the others' DNA was later identified, the evidence contained one DNA profile that stayed unknown until May 2025, when the CODIS database linked the unknown profile to McClendon.
McClendon's phone records showed he was in "frequent contact around the time of the murder with at least two individuals already charged in the case," and that "additional communications suggested a possible motive."
Within a year of the shooting, Roxborough High School added 287 new cameras and additional safety staff for after-school events.
Federal investigators later alleged that a deputy in the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office had sold two of the guns used in the shooting. The former deputy Samir Ahmad, was suspended and dismissed days after selling guns to an undercover FBI agent in a sting operation.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
