In the spring of 2024, a dispute between neighbors in a Rochester, New York apartment building escalated to a fatal conclusion. On the evening of May 3rd, 54-year-old Jose Caraballo was inside his residence at 936 Avenue D when an altercation with a fellow tenant turned violent. During the course of the argument, Caraballo was shot in the torso. He was privately transported to Rochester General Hospital, but the wound proved to be fatal, and he was pronounced dead approximately an hour after
the shooting.
The man identified as the suspect in Caraballo's death was his 21-year-old neighbor, Cesar Manuel Soto-Roman, who lived in a separate apartment within the same building. Following the incident, Soto-Roman fled the Rochester area, prompting a manhunt. It was discovered that he was already a wanted man, with an outstanding warrant for criminal possession of a firearm in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Law enforcement officials, including investigators from the Rochester Police Department and members of the U.S. Marshals Violent Felony Fugitive Task Force, tracked Soto-Roman to a residence in South Euclid, Ohio. On June 3, 2024, a month after the fatal shooting, he was apprehended without incident. At the time of his arrest, a loaded 9mm handgun was recovered from the location. Soto-Roman was taken into custody and held at the Cuyahoga County Jail in Ohio. He is facing charges of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the death of Jose Caraballo, in addition to the prior warrant from Puerto Rico. Authorities have been coordinating his extradition back to Rochester to face prosecution for the alleged crimes.
