A 14-year-old boy was killed and four other teens were injured in a shooting Tuesday afternoon outside a Philadelphia high school, police said.
All five of the victims were on the Roxborough High School football team and were walking off the field after a scrimmage match with two other schools when the gunfire rang out.
Police identified the boy who was killed as Nicholas Elizalde of Havertown, Pennsylvania. He played on the Roxborough football team but was a student at the nearby Walter B. Saul High School.
Elizalde was shot in the chest and died at a hospital. "There is one family that their son won’t make it home today," a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department said at a news conference.
Police have not yet arrested or publicly identified any suspects in the attack but said at least two shooters ambushed the students, firing more than 60 rounds. A motive is not yet known, and the investigation is ongoing.
The injured victims, whom police did not identify, range in age from 14 to 17. Three were transported with gunshot wounds to the leg or thigh and are now in stable condition. The fourth, who received a graze wound to the ankle, was treated at the scene.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney tweeted that there were "no words for what transpired" on Tuesday.
"Another young life has been cut short and others injured by needless violence," he said. "Tonight, a family will begin to grapple with the loss of their loved one. My deepest condolences go out to them."
School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington said in a statement that the district is "heartbroken and angered" by the shooting and that "thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends and school communities of all of the students that have been impacted by this horrific incident."
"The ongoing gun violence in our city is absolutely unacceptable," Watlington added. "We remain firmly committed to working with the Philadelphia Police Department and the City of Philadelphia to see how — together — we can better address the gun violence that is affecting our students and communities throughout the city."
Alex Torres told 6 ABC that he was at work when his stepmother called and said his little brother, 14-year-old Ian, had been shot.
"He's a good kid, so I don't understand why this happened to him," he said. "It's scary for the kids to go to school. It's scary for the kids to come outside. It's just a war zone out here now."
"My little brother’s 14, and just hearing he got shot was the worst feeling in the world," Torres added in a CBS interview. "I mean, everybody’s always preaching that cops need to be at every school, but yet nothing happens. This ain’t the first school shooting — in Texas, other states, now Philadelphia. This shit just needs to end, honestly."
A spokesperson for the Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, which played in Tuesday's scrimmage, said in a statement that they are "devastated by the gun violence plaguing our school and broader communities" and "mourn for and stand with" all affected by the shooting.
"While no members of the Boys’ Latin school community were physically hurt, the emotional toll of this tragedy will be long-lasting," they said.
The American Public Health Association says gun violence in the US is a public health crisis. It is a leading cause of premature death in the country, responsible for more than 38,000 deaths annually. As of Sept. 28, at least 15,187 people have died from gun violence this year, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.