One shot through a rear window killed Koran Irvine on the George Washington Bridge. Victor Romero, a 62-year-old retired New York City police detective, has been charged with murder.
Mr. Irvine, 46, was driving onto the bridge’s upper level from the West 179th Street ramp in Washington Heights on Tuesday night, just after 7 p.m., when his Volkswagen drifted toward another lane and nearly hit a black Range Rover, according to surveillance video cited by police and reported by multiple outlets. A single bullet came through the rear passenger window of his car and hit him in the shoulder. Port Authority police, who answered a report of a one-vehicle crash, found his car against the median. He died at a hospital.
Police traced the Range Rover using license plate readers and camera footage. Mr. Romero was questioned, then arrested and charged with murder. Police recovered a firearm that is being tested. Mr. Romero has not been tried, and the charge is an allegation until a court rules on it.
Mr. Romero joined the NYPD in 1994 and worked seven years as a narcotics detective. He retired on disability after he was shot during a robbery at his family’s coin laundry in Brooklyn, according to CBS New York. That was 25 years ago. The bridge was closed for hours while investigators worked.
Mr. Irvine lived in Valley Cottage, in Rockland County. He had been married 15 years and had a teenage daughter and a younger son, CBS New York reported. He was a 20-year employee of Con Edison. NewsOne reported that he was a Black man.
“He’s just so vibrant. He always had a smile on his face,” friend Anthony Hodges told CBS New York. A neighbor said he used to bring over eggs from the chickens in his backyard: “He would help us out.” Con Edison said it was “heartbroken by the tragic loss of a member of the Con Edison family in this senseless act of violence.” A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family.
Mr. Romero’s court dates and any plea had not been reported by Thursday night.
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