Larry Koonce Jr., a 37-year-old man, was killed in a shooting on May 8, 2022, in Riviera Beach, Florida. At about 4:15 p.m., Riviera Beach police were dispatched to a residence at 3603 Wedgewood Plaza Drive. Officers found Koonce inside the home, and emergency medical personnel pronounced him dead. Although some databases have associated the death with nearby Palm Beach Gardens, police reporting places the homicide at the Wedgewood Plaza Drive residence in Riviera Beach.
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investigation did not produce an immediate arrest. Detectives continued working the case for more than a year, eventually focusing on Koonce's son, Larry Lamar Koonce III. Police described the younger Koonce as the prime suspect and said investigators accumulated enough evidence during the lengthy investigation to obtain a warrant for his arrest. Authorities indicated that robbery appeared to be a possible motive, although the police department initially released few details explaining exactly what evidence led detectives to identify him as the suspected killer.
Koonce III was 17 when he was taken into custody on July 30, 2023. Police initially announced that he was facing first-degree murder with a firearm and robbery with a firearm in connection with his father's death. Because he was a juvenile when arrested, he was initially held at the Palm Beach County Juvenile Detention Center. Subsequent Palm Beach County booking information identified him by his full name and listed homicide and armed-robbery allegations.
The case later moved into adult criminal court. Court records identify the prosecution as Palm Beach County Circuit Court case number 2023CF006889AMB. Proceedings eventually included a dispute over Koonce III's competency to proceed and the qualifications of the expert appointed to evaluate him. His defense challenged the court's procedure for selecting an expert to assess competency in light of an intellectual disability.
That issue reached Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal. On June 4, 2025, the appellate court rejected Koonce III's challenge, finding that the circuit court had properly appointed a qualified expert with appropriate experience evaluating people with intellectual disabilities. The court noted that the expert had reviewed investigative records, school records, a psychoeducational evaluation and medical records from Koonce III's detention while considering whether he understood the charges, potential penalties, the court process and his ability to assist his attorney. The appellate court denied his petition, allowing the underlying criminal proceedings to continue.
The arrest represented a major break in a case that had remained unresolved for more than a year. Police publicly identified Koonce III as the person they believed responsible for his father's killing and connected the homicide allegation with an alleged armed robbery. The most recent court information located concerns the competency proceedings and the June 2025 appellate decision; those records do not establish that Koonce III had been convicted or sentenced for Larry Koonce Jr.'s death. The murder and robbery allegations therefore should be understood as criminal accusations unless and until resolved by a final judgment in court.
