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Police identify suspect in fatal shooting of 15-year-old on SEPTA bus in West Philly

After a fight in the back of a SEPTA bus, Zayki Davis, 17, got off the bus and fired a single shot that struck Zahkir Whitfield, 15, in the chest, police said.

Transit police and SEPTA workers are at the scene along 40th Street and Girard Avenue, where a 15-year-old boy was shot in the chest on Saturday and later pronounced dead at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Transit police and SEPTA workers are at the scene along 40th Street and Girard Avenue, where a 15-year-old boy was shot in the chest on Saturday and later pronounced dead at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer

Philadelphia police are searching for a 17-year-old they say shot and killed a 15-year-old boy on a SEPTA bus Saturday in West Philadelphia.

Police identified Zayki Davis as the teen who shot Zahkir Whitfield after they and three other juveniles got into a fight in the back of a SEPTA bus just after 1 p.m. on March 22. During the fight, the driver stopped the bus near 40th Street and Girard Avenue, police said. Davis exited through the rear door of the bus and fired a single shot into the bus that hit Whitfield in the chest, said Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore.

Whitfield, of Upper Darby, was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m.

Police did not say what sparked the fight, but released video and images of the four suspects and asked for the public’s help in identifying them. Police have not identified the other three juveniles.

Video shows three of the suspects gathered at a bodega and boarding the bus. A fourth suspect is seen in surveillance footage boarding the bus.

One video clip shows the suspected shooter brandishing a gun once off the bus.

Whitfield was a student at Upper Darby High School. In a statement, Edward Marshaleck, assistant superintendent of student services for the school district, lamented the boy’s death and said the district would be providing resources for staff and students affected by the shooting.

“Please join me in keeping all involved in your thoughts and prayers,” he said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334. A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.