NEW YORK (AP) — A long-retired New York City police detective was arrested Wednesday in the road rage killing of a motorist on the George Washington Bridge, police said.
Victor Romero, 62, was charged with murder in the death of Koran Irvine, 46, who was found wounded and unconscious in the driver’s seat of a vehicle on the New Jersey-bound side of the bridge’s upper level just after 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Irvine, of Valley Cottage, New York, was pronounced
dead at a hospital. The shooting near the end of the evening rush snarled traffic for hours on the busy Hudson River span that connects Manhattan and Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Romero, of Haverstraw, New York, retired from the New York Police Department in 2001. A telephone number listed for him in public records rang unanswered. Information on a lawyer who could comment on his behalf was not immediately available.
Irvine worked for Con Edison, the utility said in a statement, calling the shooting a “senseless act of violence."
“Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, colleagues, and everyone who knew and loved him,” the company said.
Closed bridge lanes reopened about five hours after the shooting, the span’s operator, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said.
Opened to traffic in 1931, the iconic, double-decked bridge carries around 100 million vehicles each year, according to the Port Authority, which calls it the world's busiest. The bridge and its entrances are teeming with cameras.
Its entrances can be difficult to navigate, as drivers often veer across packed lanes, causing heavy traffic even under normal circumstances.
