Nadji Patrick Rivera was 21 years old when he went to a birthday party at The Riviera Apartment Complex on Del Rey Court in Tampa on August 28, 2021. He never made it home. Police responded to a shooting call there around 9:21 p.m. and found him suffering from a gunshot wound; he was rushed to a hospital, where he died. Five years later, no one has been arrested.
His mother, Jaimie Colón, is still waiting. She told WFLA that she wants to hear her son's voice again, and that she is not giving up even after half a decade without answers. Colón said Rivera's best friend told her there had been some kind of situation at the party that night, though what exactly happened, and who was responsible, remains unknown. She said an arrest would help, but acknowledged it would not fix everything.
A Life Cut Short Before It Could Fully Begin
Before his death, Rivera had graduated from King High School in Tampa, launched his own business at age 19, and was working in auto mechanics and construction, according to WTSP. He reportedly hoped to follow in the footsteps of his father, Manuel Rivera, who works as an auto mechanic. Colón told WFLA that Rivera would have been an amazing uncle; she has a grandson who turned one week before the WFLA article published.
Manuel Rivera, who is originally from Brooklyn, has spent years refusing to let his son's case fade from public view. WTSP reports he has personally gone door-to-door through Tampa neighborhoods handing out flyers, hoping someone will finally come forward with information. At a February 2022 public police forum, he confronted then-acting Police Chief Mary O'Connor while holding a poster of his son, criticizing detectives over a lack of updates and pressing for the investigation to move forward, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
A Father Turns Grief Into Advocacy
Since his son's death, Manuel Rivera has joined Rise Up for Peace, a Tampa-based organization founded by Patricia Brown, herself a mother who lost a son to gun violence in the city. The group brings together parents who have lost children to shootings to push for community action, per the Tampa Bay Times. Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, who represents District 7, has also used his official platform on anniversaries of the shooting to keep Rivera's name and unresolved case in front of the public and to urge residents to help police.
Tampa Police say they believe some people who were at the party still have information about what happened to Rivera, but those individuals have not come forward. Detectives continue to follow leads in the case, according to a police statement, and the department is asking anyone with information to share what they know. Tips can be shared with Tampa police at 813-231-6130, or submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay, which is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest, per Patch.
A Violent Year, A Persistent Pattern
Rivera was killed during one of the deadliest stretches in recent Tampa history. The city recorded 48 homicides in 2021, its highest annual murder count since 2003, alongside a sharp rise in aggravated assaults, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Cases like Rivera's have also run up against a broader, well-documented obstacle: FBI data cited by local homicide detectives in 2023 showed Tampa's murder clearance rate hovering around 54 percent, with witness silence and fear of retaliation identified as the primary reasons cases stall, according to WTSP.
Del Rey Court itself has continued to see violence since Rivera's death. On March 14, 2023, officers responded to an early-morning shooting on the 8700 block of the same street that left a juvenile hospitalized with gunshot wounds, according to the City of Tampa. For Colón, none of that changes what she is still hoping for: a call with real answers, and eventually, the chance to hear her son's voice again in whatever way justice can still offer it.
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