Hillsborough County Sheriff's detectives arrested a man involved in an altercation that left a man dead hours later.
On September 27, 2022, at 6:35 p.m., Hillsborough County Fire Rescue got a call about an unresponsive man found lying in the parking lot of the Chevron gas station at 402 S U.S. Highway 41, in Ruskin. HCFR immediately transported the male victim to Tampa General Hospital with an apparent injury to the back of his head. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Through investigative means, HCSO detectives were able to piece together what happened leading up to finding the unresponsive man. On September 27, 2022, at approximately 6 p.m. both the victim and another man show up in different vehicles. After talking in the parking lot, the suspect walked up to the victim and punched him one time in the face, causing him to fall backward onto the pavement. The suspect walked to his car and drove away from the scene.
An autopsy by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office determined the cause of death to be a homicide due to a blunt impact to the head.
On October 3, 2022, detectives identified and arrested 48-year-old Rodolfo Regino, Jr. and he now faces several charges, including Manslaughter.
"It's sad to see the loss of a person solely because emotions were not kept in check," said Sheriff Chad Chronister. "The suspect admitted to our investigators that he knew the victim, had known him for years, and had always had issues and fights with him in the past."