NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — With candles in hand, community members gathered for a vigil in honor of Rodrigo Ernesto Aguilar at the Bellevue Middle School football field. Aguilar was known as 'Ernie' to friends and family.
Metro Police responded to a report of shots fired near the Slate Apartments in Bellevue just after 2 a.m. Saturday morning but did not find a crime scene or victim. Then at 7:15 a.m. they received another call after a person saw Aguilar lying outside their apartment.
Surveillance video showed him returning home from work around 1:30 a.m. He was unloading his car when he appeared to notice something off-camera and walked toward the area where he was shot and killed.
Gary Keith Johnson II was Aguilar's fellow bandmate.
"We're all wondering why something like this would happen to someone so good, you know, someone so angelic," he said.
The 60-year-old traveled the world performing - at one point he and his band were signed by Sony Music. Aguilar even performed backup vocals and on bass for big names like Sammy Kershaw.
"He was kind of the road manager. He was always kind of the father hen of everybody, took care of everybody," said Johnson.
But his most recent performance was for a smaller crowd during a school talent show.
For the last two years, Aguilar worked as a custodian at Bellevue Middle School. He surprised the students with his talent.
"So I asked him to play in our talent show recently that we had in May and he played three different instruments and just wowed all of us with his amazing ability," said principal Seth Swihart.
Now as loved ones cope with his sudden loss, they're turning to the community for help.
"If there's anybody that has any info please, we're begging just to reach out and help us out, call the police and give any kind of info you can to help us solve the mystery of what happened," said Johnson.
Anyone with information about Aguilar's murder is asked to call Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463. You can be anonymous and if your info leads to an arrest you could qualify for a $5,000 reward.
