A jury has found Santiago Apolinar Rondón, a 30-year-old former employee of a restaurant in the Condado area, guilty of murdering two brothers who were his coworkers. The incident occurred on July 10, 2023, at the Ropa Vieja restaurant, where Apolinar Rondón allegedly entered the kitchen and shot the brothers, José Enrique Cotto Roldán, 27, and Jan Paul Oquendo Roldán, 32, at 9:00 am. A female was also injured in the shooting.
Apolinar Rondón, who had worked at the restaurant for four months as a grill cook and dishwasher, was not scheduled to work that day but arrived at the restaurant and asked his coworkers to leave before opening fire on the brothers. A security guard exchanged gunfire with Apolinar Rondón but neither was injured. The incident was captured on security cameras.
Apolinar Rondón was arrested and held on a $4 million bond. The case was delayed due to a controversy over the seizure of the alleged murder weapon, which was found in an apartment where Apolinar Rondón was hiding. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico ultimately ruled that the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures did not apply to Apolinar Rondón because he was living in the apartment illegally.