A Penn State senior tragically lost his life just steps from his Philadelphia residence. The 22-year-old journalism student, Billy Schmidt, was shot and killed after pursuing suspects who reportedly stole his cellphone, only months shy of his graduation.

News Media obtained police dispatch audio that vividly captures the frantic aftermath of the June 6 incident. The recording includes officers discussing the discovery of a shell casing at the scene, providing a description of the suspect, and noting how the alleged shooter turned back to fire before escaping.

The Philadelphia Police Department informed News Media that the details aired over police radio have not yet been verified and stressed that the homicide investigation is still active. As of now, no arrests have been made in connection with the case.

“I hope they find these animals and put them in cages for the rest of their lives,” expressed Anna Schmidt, the victim’s grieving sister, in an interview with Fox News’ CB Cotton. “I don’t care how old they are. They deserve to spend the rest of their life in jail for taking away my brother. I don’t think anyone will ever understand this pain that they have caused.”

“He was unarmed. And all this for a phone? It just doesn’t even make sense,” she added.

The dispatch audio reveals the frantic response after the shooting.

“It’s going to be one man shot in the chest,” an officer can be heard reporting in one dispatch transmission.

Minutes later, another transmission provided new details from the scene.

“We have one male shot, one confirmed chest so far,” a dispatcher said, adding that one casing was found in front of the address.

The audio also captures officers relaying witness information about the shooting.

“The offender then turned around and shot the male once in the chest and ran,” an officer said over police radio.

Billy Schmidt was shot and killed on Saturday. (Bill Schmidt)

Police confirmed to Fox News the shooter was wearing a black-colored hoodie.

In a later transmission, police described the suspect as a thin-built Black male approximately 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-9 who was last seen running westbound on DeFord Street.

Anna Schmidt said she believes someone knows who is responsible for her brother’s death.

“I need everyone to help find them because someone knows them,” she said. “Someone has to know who did it. Just bring some peace to my family. I pray every day that they find them.”

According to investigators, Schmidt was walking home after watching the NBA Finals with friends when the robbery unfolded around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

Surveillance video previously released by investigators appears to show Schmidt saying, “Give me my phone,” before chasing after the suspects. Additional footage shows a cellphone being thrown before Schmidt runs after the individuals. Moments later, a gunshot rings out.

Responding officers found Schmidt suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was transported to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead at 1:47 a.m., police said.

Schmidt was a journalism student through Penn State World Campus and was on track to graduate in December.

Schmidt was a senior at Penn State, where he was set to graduate in December. (Provided by family/Fox29)

FIANCÉ OF TEACHER FOUND WITH 20 STAB WOUNDS SUGGESTS WHAT LED TO HER ‘SUICIDE’

“We are heartbroken over the tragic death of William Schmidt and we share our deepest condolences with his family and friends,” Penn State said in a statement.

The city of Philadelphia is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Billy’s father, Bill Schmidt, told Cotton he found his son’s cellphone shortly after the shooting and turned it over to investigators.

“I found the phone on 19th,” he said. “I called police after. I didn’t realize I touched it.”

Bill Schmidt said investigators are attempting to recover DNA and fingerprint evidence from the device.

“They’re trying to get DNA, and they have a print on the phone, but they don’t know if it’s mine, Billy’s, or the person who threw it,” he said. “But they’re trying to get DNA off the phone.”

The elder Schmidt described his son as a sports-loving Phillies and Eagles fan who sold baseball cards and was looking forward to graduating from Penn State.

“He loved sports. He was selling baseball cards. He was a senior at Penn State,” Bill Schmidt said. “All he used to do was watch the Phillies and Eagles.”

“He was just a really nice kid. I’m surprised he even went to chase, because he’s not an aggressive kid at all. He’s a wonderful kid.”

The loss remains almost impossible for the family to comprehend.

“I would just tell him how much I love him and miss him, and to come home,” Anna Schmidt said. “He needs to be here.”

Bill Schmidt said investigators are attempting to recover forensic evidence from the device.

The grieving father also called on city leaders to do more to combat violent crime.

“They gotta clean the city up,” he said. “To stop the violence. This can’t happen every day.”

Police have not announced any arrests in the case and continue to ask anyone with information to come forward.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Philadelphia Police Department.

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Karmelo Anthony is challenging his 35-year prison sentence following his conviction for the murder of Austin Metcalf. This development comes as Anthony, now 19, has officially filed an appeal, as confirmed by recent court documents.

Anthony’s appeal was lodged just a day after his sentencing for the fatal stabbing of Metcalf during a track meet in April 2025. Legal documents obtained by TMZ detail this swift move toward contesting the verdict.

Mike Howard, the defense attorney representing Anthony, revealed to the outlet that they had informed the court of their intention to appeal immediately after the trial’s conclusion. “We believe there are several important issues for the appellate courts to consider. An appeal is the next part of the legal process and a right afforded every American,” Howard stated.

In contrast, a source familiar with the Metcalf family’s sentiments shared with TMZ that they are “very happy” with the sentence handed down to Anthony, suggesting a sense of justice served on their part.

Meanwhile, a source close to the Metcalf family told TMZ that they are ‘very happy’ with the sentence Anthony received. 

The case has shocked America, especially from a racial standpoint, as Metcalf was white and Anthony is black.

Anthony, who was 17 at the time of the fatal attack, sobbed in court on Tuesday, and his family burst into tears as the judge handed down the verdict. 

His mother begged the jury to show him mercy as an audible gasp was heard inside the courtroom when his sentence was handed down hours later. 

Karmelo Anthony has launched an appeal fighting his 35 year prison sentence for murdering Austin Metcalf, according to newly filed court records

Metcalf was bled out in his brother’s arms after Anthony stabbed him to death at a track meet in Frisco in April 2025

Throughout the trial, Anthony and his legal team have claimed that he stabbed Metcalf in an act of self-defense after they got into a confrontation during a rain delay at the sporting event. 

Metcalf called out Anthony for standing under a tent that did not belong to his school, the Frisco Police Department said.

Anthony had originally faced between five to 99 years in prison for knifing Metcalf, but after the verdict was passed at the Collin County courthouse on Tuesday, prosecutors agreed to consider ‘sudden passion’ as a factor when determining his sentence.

‘Sudden passion’ is a legal term in Texas that allows a criminal to argue they were in an intense emotional state when they committed wrongdoing. It would have reduced Anthony’s murder to a second-degree felony, for which he could have served as little as two years behind bars.

It was then left up to the jury to decide whether to apply the ‘sudden passion’ argument to the case and reduce Anthony’s murder charge or stick to their original verdict.

The jury then spent less than three hours passing its guilty verdict, and another roughly two and a half hours before they handed down their sentence.

Anthony will now have to serve at least half of the sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, delivered an emotionally intense victim impact statement after his son’s killer was found guilty. 

Metcalf called out Anthony for standing under a tent that did not belong to his school on the day of the deadly encounter, the Frisco Police Department said

He demanded that Anthony look at him as he said: ‘You’re going to prison. You can’t even look me in the eyes right now, but you can stab my f***ing son in the heart.’ 

His grieving father further described the ‘unfiltered rage’ he feels over his son’s death.

‘If you ask me what my son’s death did to me, I would tell you it destroyed the person I used to be. Not changed me, destroyed me,’ Jeff told the court.

He said he forgave Anthony ‘the day it happened’ but did not forgive ‘what you did.’

Jeff said his family was ‘robbed’ of seeing Austin grow up and regretted he wasn’t there to defend his son at the sporting event in April 2025.

‘People think that grief is sadness but it’s not. IT’S RAGE!!! Pure unfiltered rage,’ Jeff shouted as he slammed his fist down.

‘My son’s death didn’t just break my heart,’ he continued, claiming it also destroyed ‘my sense of safety, my faith in people.’

Jeff also struck down arguments that the case was about race – as Anthony is a black teenager and Metcalf was white.

Instead, he argued, the case was about ‘right and wrong.’

Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf (pictured with his late son), delivered an emotionally intense victim impact statement after his son’s killer was found guilty

‘We’re all humans. We all bleed the same color,’ Jeff noted, before addressing Anthony himself. 

Metcalf’s mother, Meghan, and his twin brother, Hunter, also delivered emotional statements.

Hunter, who held his brother in his arms while he bled out that day, started off by telling Anthony: ‘If you could just look me in the eye while I speak, I would really respect that.’

But Anthony kept looking down as Hunter said he wanted ‘everything to be taken’ from him. 

‘You took a son, a brother, a friend, and my best friend, from this world,’ Hunter said, getting emotional. ‘You took someone from me who was supposed to be an uncle, godfather to my kids. Now I want everything taken from you.’

Meghan said she was left ‘crushed’ by Austin’s death and seeing the effect it had on Hunter.

‘Seeing my loving son, his identical twin, lose the most important person in his life, it crushes you as a mother,’ she said.

WASHINGTON — In a bid to quell the outcry surrounding a Justice Department-FBI memo, President Trump’s chief advisers convened in the White House Situation Room last July. The memo had controversially stated that “no further disclosure” was necessary in the Jeffrey Epstein case, prompting public uproar.

On July 17, key figures such as Vice President JD Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche gathered, along with senior communications officials. FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi participated remotely, as revealed in the upcoming book “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump” by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

This assembly occurred 11 days after the DOJ memo sparked significant backlash, even from some of Trump’s allies. The president had attempted to downplay the issue during a cabinet meeting nine days prior, expressing disbelief that interest persisted with, “Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable.”

In an attempt to defuse the situation, Vance proposed offering former Fox News host Tucker Carlson an exclusive jailhouse interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate, to secure her public declaration of Trump’s innocence.

The vice president advocated for complete transparency to dispel conspiracy theories suggesting that Trump was involved in Epstein’s illicit activities with young women and girls during their association in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Vance’s arguments reportedly did not sway colleagues — though Blanche, Trump’s former defense attorney, ultimately traveled to Florida to interview Maxwell over two days about the case.

The president himself also dropped his opposition to transparency legislation, resulting in the Justice Department’s mass-release of files beginning in December, including some documents containing uncorroborated claims about Trump.

Multiple Trump aides denounced a suggestion by White House counsel David Warrington of granting clemency to Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

“Pardoning Maxwell, a trafficker of young girls, would create a huge PR problem,” said communications director Steven Cheung.

“We can’t offer Ghislaine Maxwell anything,” agreed deputy White House Chief of Staff James Blair.

“A, I don’t know why we would. And B, if we give Ghislaine Maxwell any sort of break whatsoever and then she turns around and says nice things about us, or says nice things about us and we give her a break, it will undermine the entire point of her saying good things. That will feed the conspiracy theory, period.”

The summit followed internal Trump administration tensions over the files, with Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino agitating for Bondi to lose her job for suggesting there would be major disclosures, including a possible client list. (Trump ultimately fired Bondi this past April).

“You f—ed this thing up from the start,” Bongino told Bondi the day the memo was released. “The way you’ve been talking about this — that dumb f—ing charade with the Epstein files, the ‘They’re on my desk’ nonsense, all the promises to the folks out there.”

Bongino stormed out of a meeting with Wiles two days later, , according to Haberman and Swan, and had to be persuaded to delay his departure from the administration, which ultimately happened on Jan. 3, 2026.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said that the book excerpt offered further proof that Trump has “been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.”

“By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, President Trump has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him,” Jackson said.

“Meanwhile, Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries and Stacey Plaskett have yet to explain why they were soliciting money and meetings from Epstein after he was a convicted sex offender.”

“Regime Change” hits bookstores June 23.

In a significant development, Mexican authorities have apprehended the partner of an Indiana woman whose tragic end came months after she vanished with her seven children, as confirmed by prosecutors on Monday.

The victim, Makala Pendley, a 30-year-old from Indianapolis, was identified following an investigation by officials in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Her body was discovered near the municipality of Zinacantán. It has been reported by family members that Pendley was six months pregnant at the time she went missing.

During a Facebook Live session on Monday, Chiapas State Prosecutor Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca revealed the arrest of a man named Joseph “N,” who is believed to be Pendley’s partner and the main suspect in this heartbreaking case.

Prosecutor Llaven Abarca stated, “In the coming hours, we will determine his criminal responsibility, and he may be brought to justice. We are committed to pursuing the maximum sentence of 100 years for this heinous act of femicide.”

Makala Pendley, seen in a photo with several of her children, was a devoted mother of seven from Indianapolis. Her life was tragically cut short in Chiapas after her disappearance earlier this year, leaving behind a grieving family and community.