MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A man has been sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting another man outside a Marion County middle school in 2024.
A jury found 36-year-old Roderick Kelvin Watson Jr. guilty Thursday of premeditated first-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Joseph James Juarez Coles.
Circuit Judge Barbara Kissner-Kwatkosky sentenced Watson to life in prison following the verdict.
The shooting happened May 22, 2024, in the parking lot of North Marion Middle School in Citra after a student awards ceremony.
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Prosecutors said Coles became involved in an argument related to a custody dispute with another person before Watson intervened.
Witnesses told investigators that Coles turned to walk away before Watson shot him multiple times. Prosecutors said Watson then struck Coles with his fists and kicked him in the head after he fell to the ground.
Deputies found Coles suffering from four gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.
Watson told investigators that he shot Coles in self-defense. Prosecutors said physical evidence and eyewitness statements contradicted that claim.
“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.
Gladson said the shooting exposed students, families and school employees attending the ceremony to violence.
Assistant State Attorney Toby Hunt prosecuted the case.
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