PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It's been exactly one year since 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde’s life was taken in a shooting outside Roxborough High School. The passage of time has not made it any easier for the boy’s family.
“I used to say, ‘Nick, you're my favorite grandson.’ And he'd say, ‘I'm your only grandson, grandma,’” said Marge LaRue. “And I said, ‘Well, that's what makes it all the more special.’”
Elizalde and his grandmother had an incredible bond that was broken way too soon on Sept. 27, 2022, as gun violence in the city claimed yet another young life.
“Nicolas was such a kind and gentle soul — a nonviolent, soft-spoken, young man — and to be taken that way, it's just beyond understanding,” LaRue said.
She says her family is not the same. Elizalde’s mother, Merideth, feels like her identity has changed, she said.
“She's not a mom anymore. She's not a teacher. She gave up that career because she can't be around high school kids. Her whole identity was changed in those seconds that these kids just callously and viciously opened fire.”
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Police say Elizalde was the unintended target of a shooting that occurred last September after a Roxborough High School football scrimmage. Four suspects have been charged with murder. One other remains at large.
Since then, LaRue says, her daughter has been hard at work trying to make an impact in the fight against gun violence, working closely with groups like CeaseFirePA in the push for stronger gun control laws.
However, she says, Merideth just can’t bring herself to discuss the events of a year ago.
LaRue says her grandson loved Marvel comics and could talk about Star Wars all day. He was a peaceful boy who cared about the earth’s tiny creatures and clean air and saving endangered species. So his mother wants his remembrance to reflect that.
“Merideth is creating a legacy that's based on nature, saving species that are in a little trouble,” LaRue said.
And on this one-year anniversary, the family will not relive the tragedy, she said. Instead, they will “take a trip to the Delaware Canal to try to find falcons and osprey and other species of birds that Nick would have loved.”
LaRue says the hole in her heart can never be replaced.
“I just miss him so much. And I wonder what he might have been, you know. And I just wonder what path he would have taken, and all of his tomorrows were stolen from him in just a few seconds.”