WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged detainers for two brothers who were arrested in Florida in connection with a fatal shooting at a St. Johns County construction site earlier this year, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
According to DHS, citing local reporting, the incident occurred on March 4 in St. Johns County, Florida. The department said Yovany Diego Lopez Cobo, a Guatemalan national, has been charged with second-degree murder with a firearm and two counts of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm in connection with the death of construction worker Joseph Manfredi. Manfredi’s family and coworkers have publicly mourned him as a husband and father.
A second man, Armando Manuel Lopez Cobo, has been charged with accessory after the fact to second-degree murder with a firearm, according to DHS. Both men are brothers, according to the department.
Both men are charged, not convicted. In the American justice system, a criminal charge is an allegation, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
According to DHS, both brothers entered the United States illegally as minors in California in 2016 on separate dates and were released by immigration authorities during the Obama administration. The department said a Department of Justice immigration judge issued Yovany Lopez Cobo a final order of removal on August 13, 2025, and issued Armando Lopez Cobo a final order on October 18, 2018.
DHS said ICE has lodged immigration detainers for both men with Florida authorities. A detainer is a request that a person be transferred to federal immigration custody at the conclusion of state criminal proceedings.
“These criminal illegal aliens from Guatemala both came to the United States illegally as minors and were released by the Obama Administration,” Acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “Now Joseph Manfredi – a husband and a father – is dead because of these monsters who NEVER should have been in our country. ICE has lodged detainers for both of them with our Florida partners to ensure these illegal aliens are never again loose on American streets.”
The characterizations in the statement — including the reference to prior administration policies and to the defendants themselves — are those of DHS. The criminal case against the two men remains in its early stages. State charging documents in Florida allege that a verbal dispute preceded the shooting; the department did not indicate whether either defendant has entered a plea or is represented by counsel. A response from officials from the prior administration referenced in the statement was not included.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security; local reporting cited by the department
