‘Justice has finally run its course.’ Firefighter’s killers get life in prison
.png "Christopher Randazzo, 39, served as a Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department EMT and firefighter before he was killed in October 2019. It was the realization of a lifelong goal, according to family members.")
Nearly seven years after Coral Springs-Parkland firefighter Christopher Randazzo’s body was found outside a resort in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, his alleged killers have been sentenced.
On Wednesday, Torrey Holston, 26, and Jose Garcia Romero, 27, were sentenced to life in prison, weeks after being found guilty of first-degree murder.
The charge carried an automatic life sentence and prosecutors declined to pursue the death penalty.
“Nothing that happened in court today changes the fact that a good man was taken from his family and from his fire department family. But there is some comfort in knowing justice has finally run its course,” then-Fire Chief John Whalen said in a June 24 statement.
“We continue to grieve with Chris’s family, and we continue to remember the firefighter, friend, and person he was.”
On Oct. 19, 2019, Randazzo, 39, was at Aruba Beach Cafe in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, where he worked as a bartender and barback for two decades before becoming a firefighter.
Prosecutors said Holston, then 19, and Romero, then 20, targeted Randazzo because he was visibly drunk and took his phone, keys, wallet, knife and red Nike sneakers, but left him alive near the Southern Seas Resort.
But when the two discovered that his phone was password-protected, they returned to the scene, according to officials and a key witness in the case. When Randazzo refused to unlock the device, either Holston or Romero shot him in the back of the head.
The jury was unable to conclude which of the men used the gun; both were found not guilty of possessing or discharging a firearm.
Neither man had faced criminal charges in Broward or Palm Beach counties before the killing.
Jim Lewis, Romero’s attorney, told Local10 News that the jury’s inconsistent verdict was “troubling,” and that he believed the two men should have had separate court proceedings.
The statements could set the stage for an appeal, though defense attorneys would have to convince an appellate court that their clients did not receive a fair trial.
