Micah Cash Gaudio, 19, was fatally shot in the driveway of his Lynchburg, Virginia, home on September 30, 2024. A recent graduate of Liberty Christian Academy and a freshman at Central Virginia Community College, he was described as active in his church and community. Surveillance footage shows a man approach Gaudio’s vehicle holding a small child; the confrontation ended when the man drew a handgun and fired multiple shots into the vehicle. Gaudio was struck several times, taken to Lynchburg General Hospital, and died of his wounds.

His mother reported hearing the gunshots and her son’s 911 call before finding him in the car. The suspect was identified as 33-year-old Nathaniel Lee Pridemore, who fled with the child but was later arrested by the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office while armed. At a welfare check at Pridemore’s residence authorities found 36-year-old Christina Hamilton, the child’s mother, also fatally shot in the head.

Pridemore faces charges including two counts of aggravated murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and felony child endangerment and is being held without bond.