The man accused of gunning down two people in a shooting less than a mile from The Players Championship is a felon on probation with a lengthy and “embarrassing” criminal history, according to St. Johns County Sheriff Robert Hardwick.
“We’ve tracked around 27 arrests” against 32-year-old Christian Joseph Barrios, who is now facing multiple charges in the shooting that happened about 10:30 p.m. March 13 in the Walgreens parking lot at860 N. Florida A1A near Palm Valley Road in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Both victims died after being shot multiple times, Hardwick said during a pre-dawn March 14 news media briefing. Their names and ages weren’t immediately released, but he said they knew one another and are not St. Johns County residents.
Hardwick described the shooting as “a domestic violence situation” but didn’t specify the circumstances, which remain under investigation after Barrios was tracked down and taken into custody hours later in Nassau County.
Who is Christian Barrios?
Authorities take Christian Joseph Barrios into custody following vehicle pursuit, crash and then search in some woods off County Road 108 in Nassau County early on March 14. He was wanted in a shooting late the prior night that killed two people he knew outside a Walgreens near The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Barrios turned 32 on March 14 the day of his arrest.
“This thug’s criminal history is embarrassing. It makes me sick to my stomach,” said Hardwick after pausing to collect his thoughts about the situation. “… and once again, he’s out committing crimes.”
Court records show Barrios had been living at an address listed both as Jacksonville and Atlantic Beach when not incarcerated.
“Here we are dumping all these resources and families are gonna mourn two people that were shot and killed in a parking lot of Walgreens over a domestic violence situation,” Hardwick said, noting he “picked the wrong county.”
Multi-county criminal history
Barrios
Barrios, who has three alias names, is on supervised release as part of “drug offender probation,” according to Florida Department of Corrections records.
He was sentenced to probation on Feb. 12 on Duval County charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of methamphetamine stemming from 2025 offenses. His probation was scheduled to end Aug. 14, 2027, according to the Department of Corrections online records.
Barrios also has a history of offenses dating back to 2016 in Duval, Palm Beach and St. Johns counties, the records show.
1 killed, 1 arrested: Fight among St. Johns County road crew leads to triple shooting
Most recently, he was released from prison on July 7, 2025, following a St. Johns County sentence of one year and eight months on a grand theft auto charge stemming from an October 2020 case.
In addition, the Palm Beach County sentences were for trafficking in stolen property and providing false information to a pawn broker. In addition, there was a Duval County sentence for grand theft.
Hardwick made a reference that the double shooting somehow might have involved Barrios’ girlfriend.
Duval County court records show a 26-year-old woman last year sought an injunction for protection from domestic violence against him. That injunction was granted through October this year. She stated that he had smashed her phone, threatened her with a gun and hacked her Facebook. The Times-Union is not naming her due to privacy.
Hardwick also said Barrios’ mother identified him early in the investigation and was cooperative.
Players Championship: Friday’s second round at the Stadium Course
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Xander Schauffele tees off on the 15th hole during the second round of The Players Championship PGA golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
Scott Butler and Clayton Freeman of the Times-Union contributed to this report.
This is a developing story that will be updated when additional information becomes available.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: What we know about shooting suspect near Players Championship