Three men to be charged in murder of Coral Springs firefighter. Two were already in custody
Three men, two of whom were already in custody in Palm Beach County, are expected to be charged with the murder of a Coral Springs firefighter who was killed last weekend.
Broward Sheriff’s Office public information officer Keyla Concepcion said the agency had obtained warrants for murder charges against Torrey Holston, 19, Jose Garcia Romero, 20 and Marco Rico, 32. All three are expected to be charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit murder, BSO said in a press release.
Holston and Romero were already in custody in Palm Beach County for an attempted murder in Lantana that took place the evening before firefighter Christopher Randazzo was killed, BSO said in a statement.
Reached by phone Friday, Lantana police referred all inquiries to BSO. Concepcion said her agency didn’t know much about the incident in Lantana other than it was a robbery and attempted murder that had occurred just a few hours before Randazzo was killed.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that Holston was being held on a warrant in Lantana on attempted murder and robbery charges.
BSO released few details into Randazzo’s death, but said they suspect Holston was the shooter.
“Evidence from both scenes as well as statements obtained tie the suspects to both incidents,” BSO said in a prepared statement.
Randazzo, 39, who joined Coral Springs Fire Rescue in March, was found dead Saturday at the Southern Seas Resort, 4520 El Mar Drive in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.
He was last seen leaving the Aruba Beach Cafe, 1 Commercial Blvd., at about 1 a.m. He had worked at the restaurant for nearly two decades before “fulfilling his lifelong dreams” of becoming a firefighter.
“I wrote a letter recommending him to the fire department. He always had a great smile on his face,” Randazzo’s longtime neighbor Edward Cummings told Miami Herald news partner CBS4. “He was a great guy. There is nothing in this world he wouldn’t do for you.”
On Thursday afternoon during a memorial service for Randazzo at the Herron Bay Marriott attended by hundreds of family and friends, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony announced to the crowd that police had identified four suspects in the murder, two were in custody and that one of them had confessed.
By Friday morning, when no information about the suspects had been released, his statement caused a bit of a stir. PIO officers from his department referred questions to the statement made by the sheriff a day earlier and the Broward State Attorney’s Office said it had no information regarding the arrest of anyone suspected of killing the firefighter.
Coral Springs Fire Rescue said Randazzo’s family is asking for donations to be made Coral Springs Firefighter Benevolent Association.
This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 11:17 AM.
