Darrel Rodriguez, the 26-year-old straphanger fatally shot on a Midtown subway platform, was remembered as a devoted son, a dedicated gym enthusiast and a hardworking security guard, The Post has learned.
Rodriguez was struck in the chest at the 53rd Street/7th Avenue station at about 12:20 p.m. Saturday. His aunt, Ana Pichardo, said he was deeply committed to his work and his fitness routine.
The 61-year-old aunt said Rodriguez picked up security shifts whenever possible and lived with his father, Tony, who had suffered a stroke and struggled to speak.
“He was mainly with his father. He was crazy about his father,” Pichardo told The Post at the father and son’s apartment in the Bronx.
“He even got jealous when his father got a girlfriend. They’re very close,” the grieving aunt said.
Just a few months ago, Rodriguez had created a home gym in his bedroom, complete with a weight bar, his father said in Spanish, with Pichardo translating.
“Heavy weights, right?” Tony joked. He also recalled that his son loved playing rock ’n’ roll on his guitar and enjoyed singing.
Police said a masked gunman wearing a red tracksuit, black vest and face covering opened fire before fleeing. Rodriguez was left dying on the northbound E train platform.
Sources said the two men argued on the platform before the gunman fired, though it was not immediately clear what triggered the confrontation.
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Detectives were working to identify the shooter, but sources said the investigation was complicated by the lack of platform video and the suspect’s covered face.
No arrests had been made as of Tuesday night.
Pichardo said the family did not recognize the suspect and noted that Rodriguez did not have much time for friends.
“I think he was waiting for somebody. Chasing somebody,” Pichardo speculated about the suspected gunman.
A longtime neighbor, Maddy, who had known Rodriguez since he was a baby, described him as “a quiet, decent young man” who “didn’t look for problems with nobody.”
The 46-year-old neighbor said the killer “had to be a stranger” because “everybody on the block loves him.”
Inside his Bronx home, Rodriguez had written his innermost thoughts on a piece of paper clipped to a black clipboard. The note poignantly read: “I had a hard path, I had no one.”
“What is stopping you is you,” Rodriguez wrote. “Your ineffectiveness to show up for yourself. Always show up for yourself.”
“Also, that’s the last person to show up for. Show up for yourself. The best person to show up for. Always show up for yourself,” he continued.
Sources said Rodriguez worked the front desk of a Manhattan building as a security guard, though the exact location was not immediately known. At the bottom of his handwritten note, he had written: “Need to find a new job.”