ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — On Tuesday, a St. Johns County grand jury indicted Luis Arthur Casado in the shooting death of 37-year-old Adam Amoia outside Dos Gatos last month.
[ Friends grieve after St. Augustine man killed in downtown shooting ]
On May 29, deputies said a fight broke out between the two men outside the bar on Hypolita Street in St. Augustine when Casado pulled out a gun and shot Amoia multiple times.
Amoia died at the scene.
Casado, 30, was detained by police but later released, claiming the shooting was self-defense.
Amoia’s friends told Action News Jax that weekend that he was supposed to be a groomsman at his best friend’s wedding the very same day he died.
Amoia’s friends described him as a fun-loving, positive person whose goal was to keep people around him happy. “Us being here, we’re trying to remember him. That’s what he would want us to do. Not feel sad, not be mopey,” Kyle Nazario said.
The family of the well-known entrepreneur shared grief and relief that the shooter has been charged.
Amoia grew up in a family of five boys all raised by a single mother.
“We didn’t have a father growing up, and Adam was our father figure. He took care of us,” Leonard Amoia, Adam Amoia’s brother, said. “Adam was right there. Taught us lessons; harsh truths.”
Casado told police that he got into a fight with Adam Amoia on May 29 and shot him in self-defense.
According to the police report, the responding officer said Casado had a swollen and bloody lip and broken eyeglasses.
The Amoias told Action News Jax there was no way that was the entire story.
“You can only see one person’s side in a police report. And if Adam would have been able to tell his side, it would have gone a lot differently, and it wouldn’t have taken a month,” the family said.
Casado is now charged with first-degree manslaughter with a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm in a prohibited establishment.