HADLEY — Nicholas Court can still picture his friend Jose M. “Joselito” Rodriguez dropping his children off at day care.
Rodriguez would take his son out of the car and his girlfriend would take their daughter, Court told about 250 gathered at Tuesday’s memorial service for Rodriguez, who was fatally shot Oct. 15 in Amherst. He would take his children by the hand, walk them in, straighten their clothes and give them a kiss.
Their bond was close, Court said, and as Rodriguez would walk away, his son would get upset.
“I’ll be back, it’s OK,” Court said Rodriguez would tell his son.
“Today is another school day,” Court said. But Rodriguez won’t be there to pick up his children.
“I saw you being a father to your two beautiful children,” Court said. “I saw you love, I saw you care.”
Court was one of many family, friends and community members who filled the Wesley United Methodist Church in Hadley to remember the 31-year-old Rodriguez, a father of three young children. He was fatally shot at the Southpoint Townhouses & Apartments, 266 East Hadley Road.
Local and state authorities continue to investigate the shooting. Police issued an arrest warrant on Oct. 18 for the person believed to have killed Rodriguez and injured another man. Mary Carey, spokeswoman for the Northwestern district attorney’s office, said in a statement that police are still actively seeking the subject, who is not believed to be in the Amherst area.
The district attorney’s office has declined to release the name of the suspect until he is apprehended.
Many who attended Rodriguez’s memorial were his neighbors at the Southpoint and The Boulders apartments.
They linked hands as the Rev. Jose Padan, pastor of the First Hispanic Church in Amherst, said a prayer. “We are one,” he said.
Evelin Aquino, who was a teacher for many people in the neighborhood, said “Southside we outside,” a phrase Rodriguez and the community would say often. The phrase means “we are all one.”
While some people start new life journeys outside of the Southpoint and Boulders, they are still there for each other, she said.
The crowd picked up on the theme when Rodriguez’s longtime friend, Lamont Edwards, came to the podium and sang a song before breaking down in tears.
“Southside,” he said.
“We outside,” the crowd said in unison.
Rodriguez had grown up in Amherst from the age of 8 after moving from Puerto Rico in 1994. In addition to his children, he leaves behind two siblings.
Paola Gallego knew Rodriguez for 22 years. She said his death is a “significant loss to the community.”
Rodriguez greeted people with so much love, Gallego said, and he had the goofiest and biggest smile.
“We should remember him for who he was,” Gallego said. “Not how he died.”
“It was a senseless act of violence,” Aquino said about his death.
His older sister, Zulaika Rodriguez, lives in Puerto Rico, but is staying in Amherst until the alleged shooter is arrested.
“We only want justice,” she said.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.