A heartbreaking photograph has emerged of Darell Rodriguez, the 26-year-old New Yorker fatally shot on a Midtown subway platform, showing him smiling alongside his siblings.
In the image, Rodriguez wears a white T-shirt and Yankees cap as he stands with his twin brother, Derick, and their brother Gabriel.
“It’s like a black hole in your heart,” Derick Rodriguez told The New York Times while describing the loss of his twin.
“It is grief, but it is something deeper because this is your half,” he said.
Rodriguez was shot in the chest Saturday afternoon at the 53rd Street/7th Avenue subway station in Midtown Manhattan. The masked shooter fled the scene and remains at large.
Derick, who lives in Waco, Texas, said he became alarmed when a text message he sent his brother Sunday morning appeared not to go through.
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“In my mind, I was like, something’s coming, but I don’t know when,” Rodriguez, who grew up with Darell in University Heights in The Bronx before leaving to join the Army in 2021, told the Times.
After waiting hours for a response, Derick began calling police precincts. His father had told him that Darell had not returned home the night before.
He eventually called his mother. An NYPD detective who was with her then spoke with him by phone and told him that his twin had died following an altercation on the subway.
According to his family, Darell had been working as a security guard in Manhattan on the day of the shooting.
Police said Rodriguez and the gunman had a dispute on the subway platform, although the circumstances surrounding the confrontation were still unclear.
The NYPD has released images of the suspected killer, who was wearing a red hoodie and black face mask, as detectives continue searching for him.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
