Two Titusville teens indicted on murder charges in Palm Bay park shooting

PALM BAY, Fla. — A Brevard County grand jury has indicted two Titusville teenagers on first-degree felony murder and armed robbery charges in the August shooting death of a 22-year-old man at a Palm Bay park, the State Attorney’s Office for the 18th Judicial Circuit said Wednesday.

(The image above is an AI-generated illustration of a park path, not a photograph of Patrick Woodard Memorial Park.)

Christopher J. Hriciso, 18, and Caleb C. Davis, 17, were each indicted Tuesday on one count of first-degree felony murder and one count of armed robbery with a firearm, according to the Sept. 23 statement. Both are held without bond at the Brevard County Jail. Davis, though a juvenile, will be prosecuted as an adult, prosecutors said; 321 Daily is naming him because the State Attorney’s Office has done so publicly and he is charged as an adult.

The charges stem from a shooting on Aug. 26 at Patrick Woodard Memorial Park. Palm Bay police responding to reports of gunfire found a 22-year-old man dead inside a Ford F-450 pickup from a close-range gunshot wound, the State Attorney’s Office said. The office did not name the victim; Florida Today has identified him as Marino Isaac Cohen, 22.

Palm Bay detectives determined the shooting was tied to an illegal drug transaction, according to the State Attorney’s Office. Investigators recovered text messages between Davis’s phone and the victim’s phone sent shortly before the killing, prosecutors said. Detectives also obtained a Snapchat video from a suspect’s account showing two masked men, a handgun and marijuana packaged in a way that matched packages later found at the victim’s residence, the office said. Citing the arrest report, prosecutors said the suspects in the video “happily rapped lyrics and made gestures” toward the marijuana.

Florida Today, citing court records, reported that officers found Cohen in the driver’s seat of a red F-450 with a gunshot wound to the head, a 9 mm casing inside the truck and about 37 grams of marijuana in individual packets, and that a search of Cohen’s apartment turned up several pounds of marijuana.

Hriciso and Davis, both of Titusville, were arrested Sept. 3, the State Attorney’s Office said.

If convicted, both face up to life in prison, Florida Today reported. No trial date has been set. The case is one of 10 homicides reported in Brevard County this year, according to Florida Today’s count.

An indictment is a formal accusation, not a finding of guilt. Hriciso and Davis are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Palm Bay police have asked anyone with information about the Aug. 26 shooting to contact the department or Crimeline. 321 Daily will update this story as case numbers and hearing dates are posted by the Brevard County Clerk.