From left to right in the inset photos: Jose Garcia Romero, Christopher Randazzo, and Torrey Holston (Instagram/Coral Springs Fire Department/Broward County Sheriff’s Office). In the background is the location in Florida where firefighter Christopher Randazzo was discovered face down, lacking shoes, wallet, keys, or phone after being shot (WPLG/YouTube).
Two young men from Florida will spend their entire lives behind bars for the murder of an off-duty firefighter, committed to steal his iPhone, Nike sneakers, and wallet. Witnesses reported that the duo congratulated each other post-crime, celebrating the act with smiles, confirming to each other that they had ‘caught a body.’
“The jury’s decision was both unequivocal and unanimous,” declared the judge during the sentencing of Torrey Holston and Jose Garcia Romero. On Wednesday, both were handed life sentences after being convicted in May for the murder charge.
At the ages of 19 and 20, Holston and Garcia Romero fatally shot Christopher Randazzo, a firefighter from Coral Springs-Parkland, in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea outside a resort, seven years back.
The pair faced trial in May for the lethal robbery that occurred in 2019. Court documents accessed by Law&Crime illustrated how the young men left 39-year-old “firefighter/paramedic” Randazzo face down and without shoes after taking his life over his “red Nike sneakers,” iPhone, and $55 cash in his wallet, in addition to his car keys.
“I can’t believe I caught a body,” Holston boasted after the slaying, according to witness Cheyenne Papach, who was also present and dating an accomplice who was with the two men. The local independent station WPLG covered her testimony.
“He was smiling about it,” Papach recalled about Holston, noting how he and Garcia Romero seemed very pleased over the murder and were bragging about it.
Papach’s boyfriend, Marco Rico, pleaded guilty in 2020 to accessory after the fact and conspiracy charges. He was driving a Nissan Sentra that Holston and Garcia Romero — nicknamed “Six” and “Cobra” — fled in after shooting Randazzo.
“Papach told the detectives that Six and Cobra stole from a guy they found sleeping on some steps, and that she had heard one shot when victim Christopher Randazzo passed away,” a court filing viewed by Law&Crime says.
A witness who knew Holston and Garcia Romero told investigators that they referred to themselves as “real thugs” who “got guns” and weren’t afraid of using them. A police official told The Palm Beach Post after Randazzo was killed, “These kids get all doped up, and I can’t answer why they do what they do.”
Randazzo was found “lying in front of the hotel” where he was killed, according to a woman who found him. “My husband thinks he’s dead,” the woman told a 911 dispatcher.
Before the shooting, Holston described the gun he is accused of using to kill Randazzo as “my military weapon,” according to police. “We can rob him and we can shoot him,” he told Garcia Romero while Rico and Papach were present.
“I think I got him,” Holston said after shooting Randazzo. “I saw him slumped over.”
Holston and Garcia Romero were both charged with first-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon and criminal conspiracy.
Garcia Romero’s attorney, Jim Lewis, told the local independent television station WPLG in May that an appeal was being weighed. He said trying both men together was a “detriment,” according to WPLG.
“We had always asked to be separate,” Lewis said. “Jose Romero was never alleged to carry a gun in this incident. The co-defendant was, so to some extent, we paid the price.”