Murderous rage over suspected infidelity drove a Jacksonville felon to allegedly kill his girlfriend and her suspected love interest in Ponte Vedra Beach Friday night, arrest papers reveal.
Christian Joseph Barrios, 32, is now facing two counts of first-degree premeditated murder after he fatally shot both victims in their car.
According to law enforcement, Barrios asked an unidentified relative to drive him to a Ponte Vedra Beach Walgreen’s on AIA around 10:30 p.m. Friday where he believed he would find his girlfriend and the other man.
The driver later told detectives that Barrios arrived at the scene in the back seat, “frantically” exited the vehicle, and approached the victims’ vehicle before multiple gunshots rang out.
Investigators recovered .380 caliber shell casings at the scene and an empty handgun holster in the vehicle Barrios arrived in.
He fled the scene but was tracked via cell phone location pings that placed his device in nearby TPC Sawgrass, where THE PLAYERS tournament was slated to resume the following morning.
Detectives later found his discarded phone in a generator on the property.
Investigators learned that Barrios turned up at an address in Jacksonville around 3 a.m., appearing wet and frantic, and admitted to the shootings to an unidentified witness. He told the person he did not want to go back to jail.
At one point, detectives learned that a burglary had been reported by a Ponte Vedra Beach homeowner near the shooting scene early Saturday morning.
Barrios, papers state, entered a home while the occupants slept and stole a BMW X3 from their garage. He left behind the clothes he had been wearing during the killings.
Deputies later located the stolen SUV in Nassau County early Saturday morning, leading to a chase.
Barrios eventually crashed the car after a PIT maneuver, fled on foot, and was ultimately captured.
No bond has been set for the murder charges, while other raps—including burglary, grand theft, and possession of a firearm by a felon—carry bonds ranging from $100,000 to $200,000.
Barrios had more than 20 prior arrests in multiple jurisdictions and was on probation at the time of Friday’s killings.
