Retired NYPD Detective Victor Romero Charged With Murder in George Washington Bridge Shooting

NEW YORK

A retired New York City police detective surrendered to the NYPD on Wednesday and was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Con Edison worker on the George Washington Bridge, a killing that shut down lanes of the world's busiest bridge for about five hours at the height of the Tuesday evening rush.

Victor Romero, 62, of Haverstraw, was arrested Wednesday in the death of Koran Irvine, 46, of Valley Cottage, according to the Associated Press and The Journal News (Lohud). The NYPD told People that officers responded to a 911 call shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday about a man shot on the outbound, upper-level roadway of the bridge — the New Jersey-bound lanes. Irvine was found unconscious and unresponsive in the driver's seat of his vehicle with a gunshot wound to the rear of his right shoulder, the department said. He was taken to Englewood Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Irvine's car coasted into the median after the shooting, Lohud reported, and the lanes that were closed in the aftermath did not reopen for about five hours, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, via the AP.

Police have not established a motive. The NYPD confirmed to People that the shooting "appears to be" connected to a road-rage incident, but said that will "be determined by investigators." According to published reports cited by Lohud, Irvine's Volkswagen Golf may have cut off Romero's car on the ramp from the Henry Hudson Parkway to the bridge's upper level moments before the shooting — a sequence authorities have not confirmed.

The New York Post, citing sources, reported that Romero admitted to investigators that he was the shooter and handed over the gun, that his Haverstraw home was frozen while investigators awaited a search warrant, and that his car was in NYPD custody. The Post's sources also said surveillance footage shows Irvine's car jerk as the other vehicle pulled alongside it, and that investigators preliminarily believe a single shot was fired through the rear window. WABC reported that Romero came in voluntarily on Wednesday and surrendered at the 33rd Precinct in Upper Manhattan after detectives identified the vehicle from surveillance cameras. None of those investigative details has been confirmed on the record by the NYPD.

Romero's arrest closes a circle that opened 26 years ago. He retired from the NYPD in 2001, a year after he was wounded in the hand and chest in an off-duty shootout with men attempting to rob his family's Brooklyn laundromat in June 2000, the AP reported. Using his service weapon, Romero shot one of the men in the stomach, arm and leg, and another man in the legs, according to news accounts from the time. He had been a Brooklyn drug detective for about six years when the laundromat shooting occurred.

In Haverstraw, the arrest stunned the people who know Romero best. Neighbors told the Post he was a "great neighbor" who "cared about the community" — one recalled him helping with her car on Monday, the day before the shooting. "I was so surprised when I heard this. I thought it couldn't be true," neighbor Paola Ventura told the Post.

Irvine was off duty from his job at Con Edison when he was killed. "We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of a member of the Con Edison family in this senseless act of violence," the utility said in a statement reported by People and the AP. "Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, colleagues, and everyone who knew and loved him." In an online fundraiser, Irvine's family described him as a man "full of life, love and dedication to the people who meant the most to him," and named his wife, Patricia, and their children, Lea and Hiro.

The two men lived about 7.5 miles apart in Rockland County, and both were heading home on Tuesday evening, Lohud noted.

Romero was awaiting arraignment on Wednesday night, the NYPD told the Post. As of Thursday morning, no arraignment outcome had been reported, and the AP reported that information on a lawyer who could speak for Romero was not immediately available. The investigation remains open.