Second person arrested in killing of Simon Gratz student Devin Weedon

A second person has been charged in the killing of Devin Weedon, a 15-year-old Simon Gratz student who was fatally shot on his way to school in 2023 during what police said was an attempted robbery.

Khaalid Alexander, 17, turned himself in to Philadelphia police on Saturday and has been charged with murder, conspiracy, and robbery in connection with the killing.

His arrest follows that of Taamir Cole, 20, who was taken into custody on Dec. 17 to face similar charges. Police said they do not believe Cole fired the shot that killed Weedon, but that he was one of the four people who approached the teen that morning.

» READ MORE: Devin Weedon, 15, was laid to rest amid a plea for justice and an end to the city’s gun violence

Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said that Alexander is also not believed to be the shooter. Additional details on how investigators linked him to the crime were not immediately available. Police are still looking to arrest two others involved in the fatal shooting.

Weedon, who lived in West Philadelphia, had just gotten off the subway on the morning of March 28, 2023, and was only a few blocks from school when a group of young men in hoodies and face masks approached him from behind and tried to jump him. Weedon, a decorated member of the football team, tried to defend himself, but one of the attackers pulled out a gun and shot him once in the chest, killing him.

» READ MORE: Slain Simon Gratz student Devin Weedon, 15, was a ‘rising star’ who ‘meant everything’ to his family and friends

Weedon was a cherished member of the Simon Gratz community, and hundreds of students, coaches, and teachers gathered to grieve and celebrate his life in the days that followed.

For more than 18 months, Weedon’s family agonized and prayed for justice. His father, Gary Weedon, said that at one point he had lost hope in the investigation and went out looking for the shooters himself. But it was God who prevented him from taking any action, he said, and he has devoted himself to Christ ever since, praying daily that his son’s killers would ultimately be caught.

Detectives connected Cole to the shooting in part because he was already in custody for an armed robbery that had taken place the day before Weedon was killed, police said. Investigators used evidence from that robbery to connect him to the fatal shooting, police said.