Metro Police identify man killed in Bellevue shooting

BELLEVUE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Metro Nashville Police identified the man who was shot and killed at an apartment complex early Saturday morning.

Officers responded to the Slate Apartments at 7439 Highway 70 South, after a person found the body of 60-year-old Rodrigo Ernesto Aguilar lying in the grass outside.

Police reviewed surveillance footage that showed him returning home from work around 1:30 a.m. He was unloading his vehicle when he appeared to notice something off-camera and then walked toward the area where he was shot.

Police said Aguilar died at the scene.

The Bellevue community is reeling over Aguilar’s death, who was a staff member at Bellevue Middle School. The school will be hosting a candlelight vigil for him Sunday night and posted a video of him performing on stage.

The woman who discovered Aguilar’s body said she still cannot believe what happened to such a nice man.

“I was in shock. I’ve experienced a lot in my lifetime, but nothing could prepare you for what I saw when I walked outside,” Trudi Williams described. “To find out that this is actually not only somebody that I had met on several occasions, but he was such a nice man.”

Williams said she heard 5-7 gunshots around 2 a.m. that morning but did not realize what occurred until she went outside to walk her dog.

“I leashed up the dog to take him out to do our morning walk...I found the dead body in the front yard,” Williams explained. “It just breaks your heart I mean he was somebody’s loved one and I didn’t know the circumstances or anything else but at the end of the day he was somebody’s loved one.”

MNPD is asking anyone with information about Aguilar’s murder to call Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.

Trudi Williams said she woke up to the sound of gunshots, and hours later she walked outside to find Aguilar lying dead in front of her apartment.

“I was in shock. I’ve experienced a lot in my lifetime, but nothing could prepare you for what I saw when I walked outside,” Williams said.

Williams said she heard about five to seven gunshots outside her bedroom window at about 2 a.m. on Saturday. When she got up to look out of her window, she saw nothing. Afterward, Williams went back to bed and woke up to what she thought was going to be a usual Saturday morning.

“I leashed up the dog to take him out to do our morning walk,” Williams said.

After she opened the front door, Williams said she found a dead body in the front yard. Afterward, she called 911 and police rushed to her door.

“It just breaks your heart. I mean he was somebody’s loved one and I didn’t know the circumstances or anything else, but at the end of the day he was somebody’s loved one,” Williams said.

Williams said she knew Aguilar and had met him on several occasions. She described Aguilar as a “nice man.”

Aguilar was a man Williams knew and lived a few doors down from for months.

Now her and her neighbors are on edge.

Metro police are still investigating this situation and looking for the shooter.

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