Slain car-service driver begged gunman who threatened fiancee: Please don't hurt her

WITH THE barrel of a gun aimed at his 5-month-old baby girl's mother and a stern demand from the gunman, Mijael Rodriguez didn't think twice about emptying his pockets and handing over all he had: $30.

But apparently everything the 24-year-old car-service driver had on him during that fateful 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. shift Saturday night wasn't enough for the cold-blooded robber-turned-killer, so the gunman, police said yesterday, put a bullet in the young father's head anyway - as the woman he was engaged to marry watched in horror.

"Her fiance died in her arms," Homicide Capt. James Clark said yesterday during a news conference, where he announced that the accused gunman, 20-year-old Alonzo Dilligard, of Yeadon, Delaware County, had been arrested and charged with murder and related offenses for Rodriguez's killing. Dilligard, Clark said, has a history of violence and police contact.

As police zeroed in on the killer yesterday, managers at La Primera Car & Limo Service in Juniata, where Rodriguez began working as an overnight driver two weeks ago, desperately tried to figure out how he'd missed a warning broadcast in Spanish to the drivers working that night: The advisory - now haunting - flagged a trio of men who called for a car at 7th and Clearfield streets at 5:58 p.m. and appeared unsavory to the first driver who'd arrived: "Danger. Do not give service."

Juan Olivo, manager of operations at the company, which markets itself as a "neighborhood limousine" service, said Rodriguez had been nearby and picked up the fateful fare quickly - by 6:12 p.m., Olivo said, minutes after the warning was sent, the three men were already in the back of the silver Chrysler 300 and on the way to an address in Yeadon, where they asked to be dropped off.

"He got there very quick," Olivo told the Daily News. "The [driver's] tablet did have the warning, but he already had the passengers."

Rodriguez's fiancee was in the passenger seat - a practice that Olivo said La Primera advises against, but that some drivers, especially those who work overnight, take as a safety precaution.

"I guess he thought everything was OK," Olivo said last night, adding that Rodriguez's brother also used to work for La Primera. "He knew what he was doing."

What Rodriguez didn't know was the sinister intention of the young men he'd picked up.

"They were going to rob whichever cabdriver came to pick them up," Clark said. "That was their plan."

The trio, all of whom are from Yeadon, were in North Philly at a friend's house, Clark said.

On the way to Yeadon, Clark said, they requested that Rodriguez take a detour to 54th and Delancey streets in West Philadelphia. When Rodriguez stopped there, Dilligard pulled out the gun and pointed it at the driver's fiancee, threatening: "If you don't give me everything you have, I'm gonna kill her," Clark recounted.

Rodriguez - whom Olivo said also worked a part-time day job to make ends meet and support his mother and family after his father died in November - begged for mercy, telling the killer, "I have nothing else. Please don't hurt her," according to Clark.

But Dilligard apparently wasn't sated by the cash Rodriguez had given him.

The gunman "exited the vehicle, and, for no reason, pointed the gun at Rodriguez and shot him in the head," Clark said. As Dilligard and his gutless accomplices fled, Clark said, Rodriguez lay dying in the Chrysler. Medics pronounced him dead there at 7:24 p.m.

Clark said yesterday afternoon that detectives were questioning one of the two men, a 21-year-old, who was with Dilligard at the time, and had identified and were looking for the third. It was unclear last night what charges, if any, the other two would face - Clark said police had determined that Dilligard pulled the trigger.

The Homicide Unit captain attributed the quick solving of the case to good detective work, an eagle-eyed witness in North Philadelphia who saw the trio get into Rodriguez's car and identified them for police, and video of the men getting in the car.

Clark said Rodriguez's fiancee, though traumatized, was also helpful to detectives.

"Putting all of those three things together, we were able to bring it in very quickly," Clark said of the case.

Olivo said the roughly 90 drivers who work for La Primera were shaken yesterday as supervisors at the company called a meeting to offer support to Rodriguez's relatives. "He was part of the family," Olivo said, adding that Rodriguez was quiet, loved baseball and that many of the other drivers warmed up to him quickly.

"It hit home. Everybody gets anxious," Olivo added.

The manager said La Primera drivers have had issues with rowdy passengers who have stolen cars and "taken them for joyrides" in the past. "But never something like this," he said. "Our main concern is the safety of the drivers."

Rodriguez's grieving family declined to comment yesterday at his Kensington home. On his Facebook profile - all his little girl will know of her hardworking father - he doted on his daughter, posting photos of himself with her. In one, he grins next to the little girl. In another, he kisses the tiny infant's cheek.

"Finally, my little bit of heaven," the young father wrote on his Facebook in July, posting a photo of his newborn. "Thank you God."