The SUV used in the Roxborough High School shooting had been stolen, Philly Police said
Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore declined to offer details about when or how the car was stolen, saying detectives were still processing the vehicle for fingerprints or other evidence.
The Ford Explorer that investigators believe was used in this week’s shooting at Roxborough High School — and which police found late Wednesday in Southwest Philadelphia — was stolen earlier this year, officials said Thursday.
Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore declined to offer details about when or how the SUV was stolen, saying detectives were still processing the car for fingerprints, physical evidence, or other clues that might lead to suspects.
Police believe five shooters jumped out of the gray vehicle Tuesday afternoon, unloading more than 60 shots toward a group of teens who’d just left a football scrimmage, killing a 14-year-old boy and wounding four others. The shooters then climbed back into the SUV and drove away, police said.
Officers found the vehicle late Wednesday night in the parking lot of the Dream Boutique Adult Entertainment Center on the 6000 block of Passyunk Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. The car had a paper Delaware tag as a license plate, but Vanore on Thursday declined to offer details about how or whether any initial evidence from the SUV might be guiding the investigation.
The shooting attracted widespread attention, with community members, politicians, and athletes expressing devastation and outrage.
The teen who was killed — Nicolas Elizalde, 14, of Havertown, Delaware County — was “a totally innocent victim,” Homicide Capt. Jason Smith said Wednesday. And although he and Vanore believe shooters had targeted at least one of the victims — who ranged in age from 14 to 17 — detectives were continuing to review a number of potential motives, officials said.
The shooting happened shortly after 4:30 p.m., just minutes after a scrimmage among football squads from Roxborough, Northeast High, and Boys Latin Charter School.
The shooters had been waiting in the parked Explorer near the football fields for about six minutes, according to police. As the group of teens walked past and headed for locker rooms, the five shooters jumped out and began firing, a scene that was captured on surveillance video.
In the video, one of the assailants can be seen chasing a victim — a 17-year-old who was not on the football teams — shooting until he ran out of bullets, Smith said.
The shooters then jumped back in the SUV and drove away, and Smith said detectives believe a sixth person may have been behind the wheel and serving as a getaway driver.
Vanore said police were investigating a number of potential motives, including the possibility that the shooting may have been connected to an altercation earlier Tuesday at the high school.
At Boys Latin on Thursday morning, the middle school was temporarily locked down after a bus driver noticed a student with a loaded magazine in his backpack, police said.
Vanore said he had no indication that that incident had any connection to Tuesday’s shooting. The lockdown was lifted by 11 a.m., police said.
More than 100 people gathered Thursday evening for a vigil to remember Elizalde at Gorgas Park, next to Roxborough High. Community members brought flowers and held candles. One speaker wondered: “How does this keep happening?”