In the summer of 2018, a life was tragically cut short over a dispute in a Port Jefferson pool hall. Albert Luis Lopez Rodriguez, a 27-year-old male, was fatally shot on July 22nd inside Billiards DBM on Main Street. The incident began as a verbal argument between Lopez Rodriguez and an acquaintance, 36-year-old Alejandro Vargas-Diaz. The disagreement escalated, and Lopez Rodriguez punched Vargas-Diaz, knocking him to the ground. In retaliation, Vargas-Diaz ambushed Lopez Rodriguez, shooting him in the back, neck, and shoulder. A father of three from Selden, Lopez Rodriguez died at the scene.
Immediately following the shooting, Alejandro Vargas-Diaz fled the state, sparking a multi-year manhunt. Law enforcement officials determined that he had ties to Brooklyn, Queens, and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. A month after the killing, the 9 mm pistol used in the crime was discovered hidden in a tree along the Setauket Port Jefferson Greenway Trail. Despite extensive efforts by Suffolk County homicide detectives, which included issuing a Most Wanted alert and traveling to the Dominican Republic where both men were originally from, Vargas-Diaz remained at large.
For nearly three years, the victim's family waited for justice. A significant break in the case came in June 2021 when a tip to crime stoppers led U.S. Marshals to Florida, where Vargas-Diaz was arrested. He was extradited back to Suffolk County in November of that year to face charges. In July 2023, Alejandro Vargas-Diaz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was subsequently sentenced to 23 years to life in prison, bringing a long-awaited conclusion to the senseless act of violence that took the life of Albert Luis Lopez Rodriguez.
