JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Less than two days after a man was shot and killed near Landon Park in San Marco, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office announced an arrest in connection with the deadly shooting.
At approximately 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, officers responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting on the 1800 block of River Road.
Officers located the victim, identified as 30-year-old Austin Fitzgerald, suffering from a single gunshot wound. He was taken to the hospital where he died from his injuries.
The initial investigation shows the shooting was a result of an altercation between several people at a nearby residence.
Officers found a silver .38 caliber revolver on the front steps of the residence.
Police detained multiple witnesses at the scene, including a potential suspect, identified as Luis Roces, 36.
According to an arrest report obtained by First Coast News, the night of the shooting, the victim had driven with two other people to Dart Bar in Riverside, where they met one other friend.
One of the witnesses told police Roces had sent her multiple messages and calls, which she ignored.
The witness "discovered that the suspect had been searching the Riverside area of Jacksonville for her," the report states.
When the group left the bar separately, the report states Roces approached the witness as she was walking alone down a roadway and told her to get in his car. The witness got into Roces' car, and the pair drove to his home on River Road in San Marco, the report said.
While on the way to the suspect's home, the witness texted Fitzgerald, the man killed, to ask him to pick her up from Roces' home, "indicating she was afraid of the suspect," according to the report.
The witness waited in the bathroom for Fitzgerald to pick her up while continuing to contact him until he arrived, the report said. Roces remained with the witness while she waited in the bathroom.
"She believed that he did not want her to be alone," the report states.
When Fitzgerald arrived at the residence, the witness said she watched Roces leave the bathroom and walk toward the front door where he began arguing with Fitzgerald, according to the report.
After seeing the argument, the victim ran out the front door. The witness told police she and Fitzgerald were getting in his car to leave when Roces followed them and started another argument.
According to the report, Fitzgerald then took off his shirt and walked toward Roces, who was also walking forward.
The reports said a witness heard fighting ensuing outside their residence and saw the victim lying on the ground with a gunshot wound, noting the suspect appeared "strangely calm."
After speaking with witnesses, reviewing surveillance video and interviewing Roces, police arrested him on second-degree murder charges.
Roces made his first appearance in Duval County court at 9 a.m. Monday, and is being held on no bond.
He will be back in court on Wednesday at 2 p.m. for arraignment.
