Antonio Rudolfo’s mother pleads for help to find out who killed him (PHOTOS)

• Antonio Rudolfo was shot to death outside a church.
• He was with his girlfriend when another young man fired several shots at him.
• His distraught mother now demands justice.

Antonio Rudolfo was shot to death in his car while he was parked outside a church in Nashville, Tennessee. The boy’s mother implores the community to help the authorities identify and arrest her son’s murderer.

Antonio Rudolfo, 19, was in his car in the parking lot of Vida Nueva Seventh-day Adventist Church, located at 208 Gatewood Avenue, northeast of the Nashville metropolitan area. At the time of writing this story it is not known why he was there.

Who killed the young Antonio Rudolfo?

What the authorities do know is that the young Antonio Rudolfo was with his girlfriend. The authorities’ report does not detail whether the girlfriend or the boy were members of the church. The girl’s testimony may be the key to solving the murder.

Detectives from the Homicide Division of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) reported that at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, November 25, 2022, a conflict occurred between Antonio Rudolfo and another boy who arrived at the scene.

Antonio Rudolfo’s girlfriend witnessed the crime

The newcomer and Antonio Rudolfo had presumably agreed to meet at that place. Suddenly, a conflict broke out between the two boys and one pulled out a gun and fired several shots. Rudolfo fell to the ground badly injured.

For some reason that is still unclear, the shooter did not fire a single shot at Antonio Rudolfo’s girlfriend. After the shooting, the killer ran off and someone called 911 for help. The girl’s name did not appear in the NPD investigation.

“Someone took him from me like it was nothing”

Brendan Tierney, a reporter for WSMV, spoke exclusively with Rose María Rudolfo, Antonio Rudolfo’s mother, after the boy’s murder. In the midst of her pain she demanded justice for her firstborn.

“I had five beats in my heart and he was the first… someone took him from me like it was nothing. And now I need to know why. It’s horrible not being able to see your son, not being able to hug him, hold him, look at him and then have to watch him being put in a bag in a truck. Someone… shot him for no reason,” Rose Maria Rudolfo told WSMV.

A GoFundMe was set up for Antonio Rudolfo’s family

Jessica Hammock, a friend of the murdered boy’s family, started a GoFundMe campaign to help his family cover the funeral expenses after the tragedy that caused deep pain to the Hispanic community in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We are devastated after Antonio’s death and struggling to afford his funeral expenses… his mother cannot do this alone. We ask for help… from the community. Tony (Antonio Rudolfo) was a kind boy and loving son,» says Jessica Hammock in Funeral expenses for Antonio Rudolfo.

Gun deaths continue to rise

The mysterious shooting death of Antonio Rudolfo in Nashville is yet another incident involving firearms. The National Archive of Gun Violence reported that so far in 2022, 40,137 people have already died in shooting incidents.

As of Sunday, November 27, 2022, of those people who were shot to death in the United States, a total of 18,291 were killed and 21,846 committed suicide. The country already counts 615 mass shootings, where at least four people died in the same event.