Deputies say one worker was killed and two others were wounded before a suspect was arrested minutes later.
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A shooting at a road construction site near the SilverLeaf subdivision left one man dead and two others hurt Wednesday afternoon, and deputies said the suspected gunman was captured less than a half-hour later after witnesses helped track his vehicle.
Authorities said the violence broke out at a work site near Crimson Leaf Drive and Johns Island Parkway, an area tied to the county’s continuing growth and road building. The case quickly became a major local crime scene because it left one person dead, sent two bystanders to hospitals and marked the county’s first homicide investigation of 2026.
Deputies said the first calls came in at about 4:26 p.m. reporting gunfire near the Courtney Groves subdivision in SilverLeaf. Investigators said two men who knew each other and were working on a road project got into an argument that turned physical. According to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, one of the men then pulled a gun and fired at the other man, who died at the scene before emergency crews could save him. Sheriff Rob Hardwick said witnesses gave deputies immediate information about the suspect’s movements after the shooting. “We have people in the community that don’t want to tolerate that when they witness violent crime,” Hardwick said. “They’re not afraid to call us because they know we’re going to come and do the right thing and hold people accountable.”
Two other men who were nearby when the shots were fired were also struck and taken to hospitals. By Thursday, local reports said both surviving victims were expected to recover, though deputies did not immediately release detailed medical updates or identify them publicly. Investigators said witnesses saw the suspected shooter leave in a vehicle and head toward Interstate 95 South near International Golf Parkway. Deputies tracked that vehicle to a Love’s truck stop on State Road 206, where the suspect and his brother were taken into custody at about 4:53 p.m. The sheriff’s office later identified the suspect as 20-year-old Yovany Lopez Cobo. Authorities said he was booked into the St. Johns County jail and accused of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder. It was not immediately clear Thursday whether he had retained an attorney.
The shooting unfolded in one of the county’s best-known master-planned growth corridors, where new homes, road work and utility projects have expanded alongside major traffic arteries. That setting helped give the case broader weight beyond the crime itself. SilverLeaf has been one of the county’s fastest-changing areas, with new subdivisions and road improvements drawing construction crews and residents into the same space each day. Hardwick noted that St. Johns County had publicly highlighted a full year without any homicides in 2025, a milestone officials described as unusual for a county with more than 300,000 residents. “Last year, just caught a lucky year by the grace of God,” Hardwick said, adding that the county is not immune from violent crime. The case therefore landed not only as a workplace shooting, but also as a sharp break from recent claims of relative public safety.
The investigation is now centered on witness statements, physical evidence from the construction site, forensic review and the sequence of events leading from the argument to the gunfire. Detectives are expected to keep building the timeline through interviews with workers and others who were nearby when the shooting began. Prosecutors will decide whether to pursue the charges as filed or seek additional counts as the case moves through first appearance, bond proceedings and later court hearings in St. Johns County. Authorities have not publicly released the name of the man who died, and they have not described in detail what started the confrontation or whether any workplace complaints had been reported earlier that day. Deputies also have not said whether the suspect’s brother, who was detained with him, faces any charge related to the case.
By Wednesday evening, patrol cars, crime-scene tape and stunned workers had turned part of the SilverLeaf corridor into a tightly controlled investigation zone. The case drew attention because of how fast it moved from an on-site dispute to a countywide manhunt, then to an arrest at a truck stop miles away. Witness cooperation became one of the central details in the sheriff’s public account. Hardwick credited those calls with helping deputies move quickly before the suspect could get farther down I-95. For nearby residents, the violence was jarring in a neighborhood more often associated with new development than homicide investigations. For workers at the site, it ended an ordinary weekday shift in chaos, with one man dead, two others wounded and a routine construction project transformed into an active criminal case.
The suspect remained in custody Thursday, and the next major step is expected to come in court as investigators continue releasing victim information and refining the timeline of the shooting.
Author note: Last updated March 6, 2026.