PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio, NBC10) — Meredith Elizalde had been waiting for her son Nicolas’ football scrimmage to end Tuesday afternoon at Roxborough High School. What was supposed to be part of their normal routine turned into a nightmare.
Nicolas, 14, was shot and killed as he and other boys were leaving the field. Four other teens were wounded by gunfire.
In an exclusive interview with NBC10, Meredith Elizalde said she heard the gunshots while she was waiting for her son in her car.
“I don’t need to see the surveillance video,” she said. “I saw it. I was there and I ran to him. I was waiting at the car, where he knows that’s where I am after the game, and I heard the shooting start.”
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She called 911.
“As a mother, I knew. I knew it. I ran to the shots,” she said. “I couldn’t get him, but I held him and I felt him leave. But I was holding him. He wasn’t alone.”
She touched Nicolas’ face and told him she loved him, then recited a Muslim prayer. She described her 14-year-old son as “a gentle soul” and a proud Mexican and Muslim American who marched for different causes, like stopping gun violence.
“I always knew that his life would mean something, but I didn’t know it would be this,” Meredith Elizalde told NBC10.
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Police do not believe Nicolas was targeted in the shooting, but at least one of the other boys was. They were all part of a football scrimmage that included players from Roxborough, Northeast and Boys’ Latin Charter high schools.
On Wednesday, investigators released surveillance footage of the shooting. An SUV was parked for about six minutes in the area of Penchin and Gates streets when five shooters got out and fired dozens of shots at the victims.
Hours after the footage was released, law enforcement sources said Philadelphia police and ATF recovered the SUV that was likely involved. It was in a parking lot at 61st Street and Passyunk Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia.
The shooters have yet to be identified. There is a $45,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
NBC10 is a broadcast partner of KYW Newsradio.