$50K reward offered for teen wanted in deadly Roxborough HS shooting
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The reward for information leading to the arrest of the last suspect in September's deadly shooting outside Roxborough High School is now up to $50,000.
U.S. Marshals say 17-year-old Dayron Burney-Thorne was one of five people who ambushed a group of teenagers leaving a football scrimmage at Roxborough High, killing 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde.
The mother of Nicolas Elizalde is pleading for help to find Burney-Thorne as she struggles with life without her son.
"I'm living in a nightmare," Meredith Elizalde said.
Meredith Elizalde remembers the day she held her 14-year-old son Nicolas as he lay dying on the sidewalk.
"I am about to spend my first Mother's Day without my only child," Meredith Elizalde said.
A makeshift memorial marks the spot where Nicolas was shot and killed outside Roxborough High School seven months ago.
"He was the sweetest, funniest, kindest soul I ever met, the most patient boy I've ever met," Meredith Elizalde said. "And he was robbed of a chance to do even more great things in his life, for no reason, because children had access to illegal guns."
Police say a group of people ambushed him as he was leaving a football scrimmage.
Four suspects have been arrested for his murder, but a fifth suspect, Burney-Thorne, remains at large.
"I am begging for the public's help to turn Dayron Burney-Thorn in. If you are living in Philadelphia, and you know where he is, please contact us," Meredith Elizalde said.
Last year, the U.S. Marshal's office tracked Burney-Thorn in Atlanta, 800 miles away from the murder scene, but he slipped through the cracks.
"When you have a 16-year-old fugitive, he doesn't have a lot of resources other than friends, family, associates," Robert Clark, of the U.S. Marshals, said. "And if they're not cooperating or they're not providing information, it's very difficult to catch up with the juvenile."
The reward is now being raised to $50,000 for Burney-Thorn's capture.
Meredith Elizalde is hoping someone comes forward to help get him off the streets as soon as possible
"I don't believe that justice exists when child's been murdered, but it would at least give me peace of mind that there's not one more murderer on the streets with access to illegal guns," Meredith Elizalde said.
A grieving mother seeking closure as the city's gun violence crisis continues.
