Dominican Man, 26, Fatally Shot at Manhattan Subway Station While Returning Home From Work

Darrel Rodríguez, a 26-year-old Dominican man, was fatally shot in the chest at a New York City subway station on Saturday while returning home from work, in an incident that has left his family and community mourning his death.

Rodríguez worked as a security guard in a Manhattan building and was heading to the University Heights apartment in the Bronx where he lived with his father. The shooting occurred around 12:20 p.m. at the Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street station in Manhattan, according to police information and local media reports.

Emergency responders performed CPR on the platform before transporting him to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities said Rodríguez had been involved in an argument with the suspected shooter and another person on the northbound E train platform shortly before one of the men pulled out a gun and shot him. Investigators have not publicly established what triggered the confrontation.

The New York Police Department said the attack appeared to have targeted Rodríguez and was not a random shooting. However, authorities have not confirmed whether the victim and the suspected gunman knew each other.

The suspect fled the station and remained at large as of Monday. Security footage released by authorities showed a man wearing a red tracksuit, a black padded vest and a dark garment covering his face. Police warned that he is armed and dangerous.

Remembered as a quiet and respectful young man

Rodríguez’s death has devastated neighbors and people who had known him since childhood. They described him as a peaceful, respectful young man who stayed away from trouble.

Maddy, a 46-year-old neighbor who said she had known Rodríguez and his twin brother since they were babies, told the New York Post that he was “a quiet and decent young man” who did not look for trouble.

Willie Suzana, a barber whose shop is across from the building where Rodríguez lived, also mourned his death. He said he had known Rodríguez since childhood, when he would pick him up from school, and had seen him leave home in recent years for his night shifts as a security guard.

Rodríguez lived with his father, who has health problems after suffering two heart attacks and has difficulty speaking. He also had two brothers, including his twin, Derick, who lives in Texas, according to U.S. media reports.

Derick told The New York Times that he began to suspect something had happened when a text message he sent his brother failed to go through. After trying to locate him through several police departments and contacting their father, he learned that Rodríguez had died.

“It’s like a black hole in your heart,” Derick said, describing the pain of losing his brother.