Nicolas Elizalde, 14, laid to rest with a kindness he wasn’t afforded in death

Nicolas Gabriel Elizalde’s pine coffin, draped in a black velvet cloth, rested at the front of Philadelphia Masjid mosque Wednesday, the prayer hall filled with a few hundred mourners offering moments of kindness that Nick was not afforded in death.

As the 14-year-old’s loved ones, classmates, teammates, and members of the wider Muslim community lined the West Philadelphia mosque, Muslims knelt and touched their foreheads to the ground. They raised their hands to their ears then back to their sides. They shared what felt like an endless prayer.

Meredith Elizalde knelt at the center of the Janazah, her face solemn.

But she was strong. She had to be. She promised herself in the aftermath of her son’s death that she would not let the city look away from what the unrelenting gun violence crisis has ripped from her: an intelligent, gentle boy; a gifted artist and loving friend; her only child.

Nick was fatally shot outside Roxborough High School last week when five shooters unleashed more than 60 bullets toward a group of football players after an afternoon scrimmage. The teenager, who police have said was not the target, was struck once in the chest as he walked toward the locker room. He died a short time later, in his mother’s embrace.

Three of Nick’s teammates and another teen, ages 14 to 17, were also injured.

» READ MORE: The mother of Roxborough shooting victim Nicolas Elizalde, 14, has a message: ‘He isn’t a number’

Hours before Wednesday’s service, police released photos of the teens they believe are responsible for the shooting. In a statement shared just before she arrived at the mosque, Meredith Elizalde pleaded to the shooters, and whoever is harboring them, to turn themselves in.

“My son was innocent,” she said. “My only child. The only thing that I had in my life. You are robbing him of justice.”

Inside the mosque Wednesday, people prayed for that justice, but also for mercy on the rest of the city’s children. Twenty-two other juveniles have died in shootings so far this year in Philadelphia, including two in just the last week.

“Our youth in this space are fearful, and they are in need,” said Imam Kenneth Nuriddin while leading the service.

He said the community must step up to protect and support its children. He reminded and warned of an African proverb: The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.

“This is a test to us,” he said. “We are losing our youth.”

Part of the service was also shared in Spanish by Imam Isa Parada, of Islam in Spanish Centro Islamico, the nation’s only Spanish-speaking mosque, based in Houston. Nick, whose father’s side of the family is from Mexico, was inspired by this mosque’s work after watching a Vox documentary about it, said Alex Gutierrez, a videographer for Islam in Spanish. When Parada heard of Nick’s death, he and Gutierrez flew to Philadelphia to honor him and his Spanish-speaking relatives.

Nick was obsessed with fresh, stylish sneakers, his family said. Many of them sported their favorite sneakers in Nick’s honor Wednesday, Meredith in a pair of purple-and-teal Nike high-tops.

Outside, funeral attendees reflected on their favorite memories of Nick. Reese Fitzegibbons, 15, remembered the time in middle school when Nick drew him a picture of his favorite basketball player, Kyrie Irving. He still has it in his room, he said.

“He was a genuinely nice person,” Fitzegibbons said.

After the service, loved ones gathered at Friends Southwestern Burial Ground in Upper Darby. Philadelphia police closed the nearby roads to the public as a caravan of gold hearses carried Nick and his family to the grounds.

Nick’s young body was cleansed Tuesday, before the funeral, from his upper right side down to his lower left. His left hand was placed on his chest, and his right hand atop that one. Then his body was wrapped in a white shroud, secured using three ropes.

Meredith, held by her mother, watched as her son’s coffin was hoisted from the hearse. A group of Elizalde men carried it toward the grave, and placed it on a metal stretcher.

The top of the box was removed, and slowly, Manuel Elizalde lifted up his son, assisted by Nick’s uncle, Carlos. Women hummed prayers in the background. Quiet gasps and sobs filled the cool, damp air.

They lowered Nick into the hands of three men standing inside the grave.

“Place his chest on your chest,” a man instructed.

Carefully, they laid him into the ground, his head facing east, toward Mecca. A red-and-black flag with the word Palestine embroidered on it was draped across his torso. Then, wooden boards were carefully placed over him.

Men vigorously shoveled dirt into the grave. In less than five minutes, it was filled.

Meredith shuffled toward the grave, her mother steadying her. She carefully shoveled a bit of dirt onto the mound, then crouched down, touched the clay, and sobbed.

One by one, other women gently sprinkled fists of dirt.

The burial was complete. Nick’s family was slow to leave.

“The angels are coming,” a woman told them. “We must go.”