He hopped out of his car to aid a dying man in South Baltimore. Then someone grabbed his phone, some pizza and fled.
A Pigtown man driving home with pizza for his family Saturday heard gunshots and saw a man struck by a car. When the bystander attempted to help the victim, he said, someone stole his phone and slices of pizza from his car.
Niverro Rodriguez, 24, said he was driving across Hanover Street around 2:30 p.m. when he saw a man crossing the street and then heard three shots. He said he then saw the man struck by a car.
Rodriguez pulled over and went to the man, later identified by Baltimore Police as 32-year-old Vincent Evans II. Rodriguez said he tried to help Evans, checking to see if he was breathing and examining his body to see whether he had been shot. Rodriguez said Evans was bleeding from the mouth.
“He was distraught and really, really scared,” Rodriguez said.
He said an officer was on the scene and, soon after, paramedics arrived and began treating Evans. Evans was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police said the victim had been shot at, but died after being struck by a vehicle as he attempted to flee.
The Baltimore Sun could not reach Evans’ family Monday.
Rodriguez said he spoke with a few officers, and they provided him with an incident report number and one officer’s business card, which he showed to The Sun. Baltimore Police Chakia Fennoy confirmed there were two bystanders helping the victim, but she said police do not provide information on witnesses. She could not provide the incident report Monday.
“It felt like a movie in the moment. Did he just get shot? Did he just get hit?” he said. “Everything happened so fast.”
Rodriguez said he got sanitizer from the ambulance and cleaned himself off. When he went back to his car to get his phone to call his fiancé, he said he found the glove compartment had been opened and someone had gone through his car. He was unable to find his phone, and he said some pizza and chicken wings were missing.
“I was distraught,” he said, that someone would take his phone while he was assisting a gunshot victim.
Rodriguez said he grew up in Baltimore, loves the city and has not had any trouble on his street. But he has grown frustrated with the crime.
“I love this city. It’s just some of the people are not kindhearted,” he said. “Overall Baltimore is a great city. At one point, we were the greatest city. In my opinion, there just needs to be better politicians in place, better laws in place. I believe the city will become one of the best again in America.”
Still, Rodriguez said the experience has made him concerned for his family’s safety, and he now wants to move somewhere outside the city. He is raising his 13-year-old brother, who almost rode with him to get the pizza.
“Luckily he was not in the car to experience something like that,” he said.
Rodriguez said he eventually located his phone using a tracking app, but it had been shattered. He said he hasn’t filed a theft report with police.
Homicide detectives are asking anyone with information to call them at 410-396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.
