PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The last of six defendants in the 2022 murder of a student outside Roxborough High School was sentenced on Friday.
Zaakir McClendon, 21, was sentenced to 40 to 80 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the death of 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde outside Roxborough High on Sept. 27, 2022, and the separate murder of Nafis Betrand-Hill in 2023.
Family members of both victims were upset that McClendon didn't look them in the eye in the courtroom, but afterward McClendon's attorney Doug Dorfman said his client was remorseful.
"From the time I've got to know him, I could see the remorse in his eyes, in the way that I talk to him," Dorfman said.
Outside the courthouse, Nicholas’ mother, Meredith Elizalde, told reporters that preventing violence means investing in education, such as the soon-to-close Academy of Natural Sciences.
"We pour enormous attention and resources into punishment while neglecting the people, places and institutions that can help prevent it," Meredith said.
Meredith said she was going from the justice center to the Academy of Natural Sciences to honor her son, who loved animals and nature.
