Suspect found guilty in Poinciana murder case in 2022

A jury found a man guilty of killing one person and attempting to kill two others in an incident in Poinciana in June 2022.

Safari Rodriguez, now 21, was found guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder with a firearm and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Sentencing has not yet been determined, but prosecutors said Rodriguez would be eligible for the minimum sentence of 25 years to life for firearm possession. Before the June 3, 2022, incident, Rodriguez had no prior criminal record in Osceola County, according to court records.

Osceola County Sheriff's officers were on scene outside Saint Tropez Court in the Poinciana area for a shooting. Prosecutors alleged that Rodriguez, armed with a rifle, shot Alejandro Armando Guzman as he sat in a vehicle in the driveway. A woman from the home came outside to confront Rodriguez and persuade him to drop the gun. Instead, Rodriguez shot her in the head. She ran back into the house and hid in a bathroom with other residents of the home.

Rodriguez fired several shots at a man outside the home who witnessed Rodriguez shooting the second victim. He then entered the home and unsuccessfully attempted to break into the bathroom. As Rodriguez exited the home, he pointed his rifle at a third man who was outside the home. All witnesses survived and testified at the trial last week.

On June 29, nearly four weeks after the shooting, Rodriguez was tracked down in Bay County in the Florida Panhandle. The United States Marshal's Service arrested Rodriguez on a warrant for attempted murder. On July 8, Osceola County Sheriff's detectives obtained a warrant for Rodriguez for murder and aggravated assault with a firearm. He was returned to Osceola and booked into the Osceola County Jail, where he remains awaiting sentencing.