PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia man has admitted his role in the separate killings of two teenagers, including the 2022 shooting at Roxborough High School.
It was DNA from a shell casing that matched Zaakir McClendon to the shooting death of 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde — and to the injuries of four others following a football scrimmage at Roxborough High School on Sept. 27, 2022.
Prosecutors said detectives also tied McClendon to Instagram conversations and phone records talking about the shooting, which they said was motivated by an altercation involving one of their friends.
His DNA also matched a sweatshirt worn by one of the shooters in the murder of Nafis Betrand-Hill, a 16-year-old gunned down on April 13, 2023 at 23rd Street and Montgomery Avenue in North Philly. Another man, Ranief Allen, was convicted in that murder as well.
McClendon pleaded guilty to two third-degree murder charges for both teens, four counts of attempted murder for the injured Roxborough teens, plus gun and conspiracy charges. He is set to be sentenced in September.
He marks the third suspect to plead guilty in the Roxborough case. Three others are expected to go to trial in June.
