Trending Topics

Men accused of killing Fla. firefighter-medic stole his shoes, phone and cash

Police said the slaying followed an incident hours earlier at a motel in a nearby town

6NVUUBRPGZGD5EF6PXEV2KQBBM.jpg

Photo/Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department

By Lisa J. Huriash
Sun Sentinel

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Coral Springs firefighter was robbed of his Nike sneakers, smartphone and cash before being gunned down by men who hours earlier had declared, “We are real thugs and we got guns,” according to documents released Monday.

Firefighter Christoper Randazzo, 39, was killed about 2:30 a.m. Oct. 19 after leaving Aruba Beach Cafe in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. His body was found outside a hotel a few blocks away on El Mar Drive.

An arrest warrant for three men say they stole Randazzo’s iPhone, red Nike sneakers, a knife, car keys and a wallet with $55.

Arrested Friday were Torrey Holston, 19 — who officials said was Randazzo’s shooter — and Jose Garcia Romero, 20, and Marco Rico, 32.

The slaying followed an incident hours earlier at a motel in Lantana, police say.

Before midnight Oct. 18, Lantana police arrived to the two-story Motel 6, 1310 W. Lantana Road, to a man who said his girlfriend had been possibly kidnapped, records show.

Four shell casings from a .22-caliber gun were found in front of rooms 162, 163 and 164. Nobody had been hit when shots were fired, but a palm tree in front of room 165 had a hole in it.

The man said his girlfriend had called Rico, who was her ex-boyfriend, for a drug deal, arrest documents say. When Rico arrived at the motel, another man came out of the Nissan Sentra with a gun. When the victim tried to leave, he said he was shot at, but hid in the stairwell. He then watched his girlfriend leave in the car with the other man and his passengers.

When Randazzo’s body was found just before 6 a.m., authorities in Broward said a Nissan Sentra was also used in the murder.

That tracked them to Rico across the county line and to his ex-girlfriend, who agreed to speak to detectives.

She told authorities she had dated Rico for a year, but he had kicked her out of the house they shared two weeks prior. Needing a place to stay, she called another man. They lived at the man’s mother’s house for a few days but then she kicked them out, which brought them to the Motel 6. The woman said she wanted to get back together with Rico.

When she tried to leave with the three men, they demanded drugs from her.

She told Broward detectives that Holston’s street name was “Six” and Garcia Romero’s street name was “Cobra” and the gun had been stolen.

Another woman had more to say to police about the Lantana situation. The woman said she was also in the car when the men went to the Motel 6. She said Holston pulled out his gun and declared, “This is my military weapon,” according to arrest documents. Then she said Holston talked about robbing and shooting the man.

“They continue to talk each other up saying things like ‘we are real thugs and we got guns,’ ” according to records.

She said they drove to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, where she fled in a Lyft.

———

©2019 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU