A Union County jury has returned a guilty verdict against a man who shot and killed a 19-year old Elizabeth man in July of 2019, Union County Prosecutor William A. Daniel, Elizabeth Police Director Earl Graves and Elizabeth Police Chief Giacomo Sacca jointly announced today.
Anthony Reciofigueroa, 27, of Jersey City was found guilty Thursday on one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and second-degree possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes following a three week trial before Union County Superior Court Judge John Deitch. The jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning its verdict.
Shortly after 7 p.m. on July 6, 2019, Elizabeth Police Department patrol units responded to a report of gunshots being fired on the 500 block of East Jersey Street and found 19-year-old Carlos Rodriguez of Elizabeth on the sidewalk, having sustained a gunshot wound, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutors Jillian Reyes and Sarah Turk who prosecuted the case. Rodriguez was transported to University Hospital in Newark, where he was pronounced dead the next day, Reyes and Turk said.
An investigation involving the Union County Homicide Task Force, Elizabeth Police Department, Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit, and Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit, assisted by the Vermont State Police and Jersey City Police Department, and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Police Department resulted in Reciofigueroa being identified as a suspect in the case, and he was eventually extradited from Vermont while incarcerated there on an unrelated matter.
At trial, it was revealed that Reciofigueroa came to Elizabeth approximately thirty-minutes before the shooting, in a black Chevy Malibu with Vermont license plates. Witnesses, physical evidence and video surveillance in the area –which captured the shooting – presented over the course of the trial were able to definitively pinpoint Reciofigueroa as the killer, Reyes and Turk indicated.
Sentencing has been scheduled for Friday, August 5, 2022 before Judge Deitch, at which time Reciofigueroa can face a sentence of up to life in state prison.