PHILADELPHIA — Three of the teens accused of shooting five young football players, killing one, outside Roxborough High School in September are expected to be charged with murder in connection with another fatal shooting the day be fore, police said Friday.
Troy Fletcher, 15, and Zyhied Jones, 17, could face the new murder charges as early as Friday afternoon for the killing of 19-year-old Tahmir Jones in North Philadelphia on Sept. 26, said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore.
Police also expect to charge Dayron Burney-Thorne, 16, who is wanted in the Roxborough case but remains a fugitive, with an additional murder charge once he is caught.
Around 2 p.m. on Sept. 26, police say, Tahmir Jones was walking in front of his father’s home on the 600 block of North 13th Street when three shooters jumped out of a car and shot him more than 20 times. He was rushed to Jefferson Hospital, where he died a short time later.
Jones had just earned his GED and was working in a construction apprenticeship program, his mother Theresa Guyton has said.
Twenty-four hours after killing Jones, police say, the shooters, with two others, targeted a group of kids after their football scrimmage, unleashing more than 60 bullets as they walked to their locker room. Nicolas Elizalde, 14, was killed, and four other teens were injured.
Vanore said police have no evidence that Tahmir Jones’ killing and the Roxborough shooting are related beyond the defendants, and that it’s possible Jones’ targeting was a case a mistaken identity.
He said police are investigating the shooters’ links to additional crimes in the area. According to court records, bullet casings recovered at the scene in Roxborough were linked to three guns used in other events.
