Overview
- Fort Myers police say Rolbert Joachim, 40, killed a gas station clerk with a hammer on Friday, April 3, and he is jailed on second-degree murder and property-damage charges.
- Surveillance video, widely shared online, shows the attacker smash the clerk’s windshield and strike her head repeatedly, and reports say the clerk was a mother of two whose name has not been released.
- DHS says Joachim entered in August 2022, was released into the country, received a final order of removal that year, and later got Temporary Protected Status that expired in 2024, which is a short-term permission to live and work during crises in a home country.
- ICE helped Fort Myers police locate and arrest Joachim on Mango Street, lodged an immigration detainer, and says he will be deported regardless of how the state case ends.
- DHS acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis publicly blamed federal release and TPS decisions for the killing, and state officials echoed that criticism as right-leaning outlets highlighted policy failures.