The man who was shot in the head at a young girl’s birthday party Saturday night has been pronounced legally brain-dead.
Nolman Vidal Rodriguez, 24, was pronounced legally brain-dead Sunday afternoon at Capital Health Regional Medical Center. He's expected to be taken off of life-support sometime Monday.
Rodriguez was attending a birthday party outside of an apartment building in the 600 block of Greenwood Avenue around 9 p.m. Saturday when an unknown man approached on foot and randomly fired at the crowd.
Dozens of people including several children were outside the apartment building when at least five shots rang out, sending kids scattering into the building.
“There were approximately 30 people attending an 8-year-old’s birthday party,” Capt. Don Fillinger said.
Nolman Vidal Rodriguez
Video of the shooting, obtained by The Trentonian, shows a man in a hooded sweatshirt walking on the opposite side of the street. The man stops at the Hanford Place intersection and fires several shots across the street toward people attending the party. The video captures the muzzle flash of the first shot, then shows the man with his arm extended as he continues to shoot.
When the gunsmoke cleared, Rodriguez was lying on the ground suffering from at least one gunshot wound to his head.
Witnesses say Rodriguez was talking to someone else at the time of the incident and may have been an innocent bystander. People close to him say Rodriguez definitely was not the target of the shooting, and that the real target was someone who lives in the apartment building.
“The shooter didn’t aim at one person, he just randomly fired shots,” a witness told The Trentonian. “There was a woman holding a baby standing right next to the guy who got hit. Even if the shooter had a motive, it didn’t make sense to fire because there were kids right there.”
Nolman Rodriguez was shot outside of this apartment building where a girl's birthday party was being held at the time. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)
Witnesses say a bullet hit a speaker that was setup outside the front window of an apartment, but a second bullet actually entered the home through the window pane and then traveled through a wall separating the living room from the kitchen. That bullet almost hit a young child who was in the home with his parents.
“The speaker saved one of my kids, but another bullet was inches away from my other child,” the kid’s parent said.
According to his family and friends, Rodriguez is from Honduras and has lived in the capital city for two years. He has a brother and a sister living in the area, but his parents are still overseas. Rodriguez was employed as a roofer.
Rodriguez’s family and friends are now trying to raise enough money to send his body back to Honduras.
At this time, no one has been arrested in connection with the shooting. Anyone with information about Rodriguez's death is asked to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406. Or call the Trenton Police confidential tip line at 609-989-3663. Individuals may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at 609-278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.