A Penn State student was shot dead during an apparent attempted robbery of his phone over the weekend.
Billy Schmidt, 22, was preparing for his senior year at the university, where he would have graduated in December with a degree in digital journalism and media.
But around 1.30am on Saturday, as Schmidt was walking home after watching the NBA Finals, the young man was shot in the chest by a person who appears to have stolen his phone.
The shooting took place just across the street from his family’s house in southern Philadelphia. Neighbors gave police disturbing surveillance footage that captured the shooting and the moments leading up to it.
In the videos, which were taken by multiple cameras from different angles, two young men in dark clothing with their hoods up can be seen talking to Schmidt, who could be heard saying: ‘Give me back my phone.’
The young man could then be seen following the pair down the block and around a corner. One of the men can be seen throwing the phone just before Schmidt caught up, and the other could then be seen raising a handgun and shooting the student.
Schmidt was quickly rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just 17 minutes after the shooting.
‘Over a phone. It’s abhorrent. It’s just unbelievable that someone would kill someone over a phone,’ one of the family’s neighbors, Ezra Roulinavage, told NBC Philadelphia.