PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a mother whose son was shot and killed near a high school football field, ruling that the school district could not be held responsible for the tragic incident.
Fourteen-year-old Nicolas Elizalde was killed by a stray bullet on September 27, 2022, after leaving a scrimmage at Roxborough High School. As he and his teammates were walking toward the locker room, they were caught in a hail of gunfire from five assailants targeting someone else. The shooting also left four other teenagers injured.
Meredith Elizalde, Nicolas’s mother, filed a lawsuit against the Philadelphia School District, claiming that school officials failed to provide adequate security at the event. Her attorney, Tom Kline, contended that the district had prior knowledge of the safety risks associated with after-school activities and sports events, which he described as frequent targets of gun violence.
Elizalde’s lawsuit claimed that the district did not notify law enforcement about the scrimmage, nor did it arrange for security personnel, despite previous violent incidents at local football events. Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg, however, ruled that the actions of the shooters, not the school district’s lack of security, were the primary cause of the shooting.
In his ruling, Goldberg stated that while the district could have potentially improved safety by hiring security or coordinating with police, it did not create the unsafe conditions that led to the shooting. He noted that the lawsuit did not demonstrate that the school district had knowledge of any specific threats against the students that day and asserted that the lack of security at the scrimmage could not have reasonably predicted such a violent act.
Goldberg reflected on the gravity of the situation, recognizing that it centered on the loss of a young life, but emphasized that there was insufficient evidence to hold the school responsible. He pointed out that Nicolas had not been placed in a more dangerous situation than any other pedestrian on the street that day, stating that it was too speculative to claim that hiring security could have avoided the shooting.
Elizalde was a freshman at Walter B. Saul High School but played for Roxborough’s junior varsity football team since his school did not have athletics. Described as a kind-hearted individual passionate about social justice and environmental issues, he often joined his mother at rallies supporting gun violence prevention and other causes.
In the aftermath of the shooting, six individuals face charges in connection with Nicolas’s death. Two teenagers have already pleaded guilty and received lengthy prison sentences, while the remaining four are set to face trial this fall.
The school district did not provide an immediate comment following the ruling, and the attorneys for Elizalde were not available for immediate response.
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