Slain Kemah man tried to intervene in shooting, sheriff's office says

Richard Rocco, 55, of Kemah, was killed at the apartment complex where he lived when he tried to intervene as three men were shooting up an apartment, according to the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities have charged one man and a 16-year-old boy with capital murder in connection with the shooting and said the third was accidentally shot and killed by one of his accomplices.

Deputies had been called to the Summerbrooke Apartments in the 1200 block of Lawrence Road about 11:40 p.m. Nov. 17 and found Rocco shot several times.

He was pronounced dead after being transported to Clear Lake Regional Hospital, Sheriff Henry Trochesset said.

Mark Anthony Vigil, 18, of Houston, was charged with capital murder Nov. 22 in connection with Rocco’s death, Trochesset said

Investigators learned Joshua Rojas, 17, also of Houston, who was accompanying Vigil, had been unintentionally shot by a juvenile during the altercation, Trochesset said.

Vigil drove Rojas to a residence in South Houston, from which a relative drove him to a Pasadena-area hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Trochesset said.

“This is being charged as a capital crime because an additional death occurred,” Trochesset said.

Authorities arrested a 16-year-old Houston boy they allege killed Rojas about 8 p.m. Monday in the 10000 block of Sanders Rose Lane in Houston, according to the sheriff’s office.

The juvenile was charged with capital murder, according to the sheriff’s office.

Rocco was going through the hiring process to become a sheriff’s deputy when he was killed, the office said previously.

The investigation still is ongoing.

Anybody with information about this case should call the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division at 409-763-8477.