Two people facing charges in the shooting death of a 22-year-old man at Patrick Woodard Memorial Park will remain in jail without bond.
Palm Bay police say Isaac Marino Cohen, 22, was found shot to death inside his pickup truck in the park parking lot on Aug. 26. Detectives say the shooting happened during what appeared to be a drug deal and that the victim was robbed, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
One of the defendants, Christopher Joshua Hriciso, 18, is charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery with a firearm, the affidavit says.
A 17-year-old, Caleb Corey Davis, was also arrested and is charged as an adult.
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Officers were dispatched to Patrick Woodard Memorial Park, 490 Koutnik Road SE, at about 6:29 p.m. Aug. 26, police said. Investigators wrote that Cohen was found dead in the driver’s seat of a red Ford F-450 pickup truck with a gunshot wound to the right side of his head. An autopsy later found the wound was from a close-range shot and the trajectory suggested it was fired from the front passenger area, according to the affidavit.
Police said a spent 9mm casing was found near the front center console. Investigators also reported finding about 37 grams of individually packaged marijuana inside the truck’s cab.
A juvenile witness told detectives he saw a masked man wearing a black hoodie and ripped jeans get out of a black car, climb into Cohen’s truck through the front passenger door and then exit seconds after a single gunshot, carrying what looked like a plastic grocery bag, the affidavit said.
Detectives also reviewed dashcam video from another vehicle parked nearby. The affidavit says the video captured a black four-door vehicle — later identified by investigators as a newer-model Honda Accord — pulling up on the passenger side of Cohen’s truck around the time of the shooting.
Investigators said Cohen’s cellphone showed text messages arranging what police described as a drug transaction with a phone number linked through law enforcement databases to Caleb Corey Davis. In messages cited in the affidavit, the person texting Cohen wrote “Finna pull in,” and Cohen replied, “Hop passenger.”
Police said license plate reader data placed a black 2023 Honda Accord with a specific tag traveling into Palm Bay shortly before the homicide and then heading back toward Interstate 95 afterward. The affidavit says Hriciso had previously been identified by police as a driver of that vehicle from a fleeing and eluding case in July. The document also stated surveillance video from a 7-Eleven on the day of the shooting showed him wearing a black hoodie and ripped jeans.
A search of Cohen’s residence the next day turned up several pounds of cannabis, including product packaged in jars and pouches with distinct labels, according to the affidavit. Detectives said they later recovered Snapchat videos recorded minutes after the shooting that appeared to show two masked males inside a Honda with a plastic bag containing cannabis packaged similarly to what was found at Cohen’s home.
Police also obtained cell site data for Davis’ phone that they said was consistent with the Honda’s movements on license plate reader cameras and showed the device pinging in the area of the park around the time of the shooting, the affidavit said.
Both defendants are being held without bond. Their next court date is Oct. 1.