Death of Fla. Firefighter-Paramedic Being Investigated as Homicide

Sun Sentinel

The death of an off-duty firefighter in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is being investigated as a killing, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Monday.

Christopher Allen Randazzo, 39, was found dead about 6 a.m. Saturday at the Southern Seas Resort, a three-story, 23-unit condo/hotel at 4520 El Mar Drive in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

Randazzo, who lives in Pompano Beach, was last seen leaving Aruba Beach Cafe at 1 a.m. Saturday, said Sgt. Donald Prichard, a sheriff’s spokesman. The killing happened sometime between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Amid the open case, the Broward Sheriff’s Office hasn’t released additional details about the killing.

Randazzo was a Coral Springs-Parkland firefighter as a “float” around different stations and zones, but was mostly assigned to the city of Coral Springs while he was on his first year of probation, said Division Chief Mike Moser, the agency’s spokesman.

He was hired to the agency in March 2019 after earning his firefighter certification at the Coral Springs Regional Institute of Public Safety in 2018. He also was certified by the state as a paramedic that year.

Before becoming a firefighter, he was an employee at Aruba Beach Cafe in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea for about 20 years.

He started at the oceanfront restaurant when he was 18 years old as a barback, prepping the bar and bringing out ice. He eventually became a bartender and “his bar was always full,” said Dwayne Wiseman, a manager. He was “a person people liked to be around.”

“He was a friend of everybody, everybody loved Chris,” Wiseman said. “The whole town loved Chris. He was very friendly, he never met a stranger.”

The fire department said funeral arrangements are pending.

Anyone with information is asked to call Broward County Crimestoppers, which pays up to $3,000 for information that leads to an arrest, at 954-493-8477.