Three of the teen suspects wanted for an ambush shooting outside of Roxborough High School which took the life of 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde have been charged in a homicide that happened a day earlier, Philadelphia police announced Friday.
Zyhied Jones, Troy Fletcher, and Dayron Burney-Thorne will be charged with murder and related offenses, police said, in the shooting death of 19-year-old Tahmir Jones on the 600 block of North 13th Street.
Tahmir Jones had been shot 21 times in the middle of the afternoon in the Spring Garden neighborhood on Sept. 26. Police said a motive in the killing wasn't clear, and they were investigating whether it was a case of mistaken identity.
Zyhied Jones and Fletcher were both already in custody Friday. According to police, Burney-Thorn remains a fugitive and is considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Burney-Thorne is asked to call 911.
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The day after the three suspects, ages 15 to 17, shot and killed Jones, the three are accused of opening fire on a group of Roxborough High School football players after a scrimmage. Elizalde was killed and four other teenagers were wounded.
Police have said they were seeking a total of six suspects in the Roxborough shooting: five shooters and a driver. At the time they said four suspects had been identified, they said those suspects would face charges of murder, four counts of aggravated assault, firearms crimes and other counts.
The shooting drew national attention around the U.S. amid a string of mass shootings and also came just after Philadelphia surpassed 400 homicides for the year, only slightly behind the pace of last year’s toll, which ended up being the highest in at least six decades.
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Entering Friday, at least 447 people had been killed in Philadelphia, according to police. That's down 4% from last year, which wound up the deadliest on record.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
