Inset: Joseph James Juarez Coles (Snow’s Funeral Home). Background: Roderick Kelvin Watson Jr. testifies during his murder trial for killing Coles in Florida (Marion County State Attorney’s Office).
A Florida man has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for fatally shooting his fiancée’s former boyfriend outside a school after a year-end ceremony celebrating student achievements.
Roderick Kelvin Watson Jr., 36, was given a life sentence after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Joseph James Juarez Coles, according to the Marion County State Attorney’s Office.
“A school campus should be a place where children learn, achieve, and celebrate their accomplishments – not a place where an adult illegally brings a firearm and uses it to take another person’s life,” State Attorney Bill Gladson said in a statement. “This defendant did just that during what was supposed to be a ceremonial event attended by countless students, families, and staff. Those actions cost a man his life and exposed others, including children, to a horrific act of violence. This conviction holds the defendant accountable, and the life sentence imposed reflects the gravity of his crime.”
The shooting took place on May 22, 2024, in the parking lot of North Marion Middle School in Citrus, roughly 25 miles south of Gainesville. According to a probable cause affidavit, deputies found Coles with six gunshot wounds. Investigators also recovered a firearm inside a vehicle with its clip pulled back, suggesting the magazine had been emptied, authorities wrote.
Coles was taken to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Investigators learned that Watson’s fiancée and Coles shared two children who attended the school. All of them had been at the awards ceremony. Afterward, an argument broke out when Coles said he wanted to take the children to his home, while their mother insisted they remain with her because two school days were still left.
The woman told investigators that Coles grabbed her arm, prompting Watson to leave his vehicle and intervene. Witnesses, however, described Watson as the aggressor.
Witnesses told police that Coles noticed Watson holding a gun and tried to flee. Watson allegedly pursued him, grabbed him by the neck and “shot him near point-blank in the upper back” several times. After both men fell, Watson began “beating the victim’s lifeless body” and kicked Coles in the head as he walked away.
Witnesses later said Watson showed “no remorse” and “appeared happy about what he did.” Police reported that he was “walking around with a smile on his face.”
Watson remained at the scene and told deputies that he was the shooter. He maintained that he had acted in self-defense and testified during the trial in an effort to support that claim.
The jury ultimately sided with prosecutors, who pointed to witness accounts and other “vital evidence” gathered at the scene.
Coles died in what his obituary described as a “senseless act of rage and hate.” He was the father of four children.
“His love for his children knew no bounds; they were his world, his reason for existing. He was the epitome of a stand-up father, their hero, who lived to see his children happy,” the obituary states.