On the afternoon of Friday, November 25, 2022, 19-year-old Antonio Rudolfo was fatally shot in the parking lot of Vida Nueva Seventh-day Adventist Church in the 200 block of Gatewood Avenue in Nashville. The shooting happened at about 4:15 p.m. while the church was closed. Antonio, a recent Hunters Lane High School graduate planning to attend barber college, was in his car with his girlfriend when a second vehicle arrived. A male passenger, later identified as Joe De Leon, 21, exited that vehicle and spoke with Antonio for several minutes before an altercation during which shots were fired. Antonio died at the scene; his girlfriend was not physically harmed. The motive remains under investigation.

An arrest warrant for criminal homicide was issued for Joe De Leon on December 9, 2022. He was located and arrested on May 23, 2023, after being found in a stolen Lexus GS300 connected to a recent carjacking in which the victim had been shot. Officers say De Leon initially fled on foot and gave a false name and birth date; a loaded pistol and drugs were recovered from the vehicle. He faces the homicide charge along with multiple other charges and was being held on a $525,000 bond.

Does anyone have information about the confrontation that led to Antonio’s death or recall seeing the vehicles in that parking lot that afternoon?