APOPKA, Fla. — Twenty-four hours after an Apopka man was killed after stepping in to help after a couple got in a car accident and was in a physical altercation, the community is remembering him for his willingness to help those in need.
Daryl Hill stepped in to help intervene after he had dropped his child off for the first day of school at Wolf Lake Elementary on Tuesday.
Shortly after, he witnessed a man and woman physically fighting inside a car after a car had crashed on Plymouth Sorrento and West Ponkan roads, just down the street from the school.
He stopped to help and was then shot and killed, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
“He was just an incredible, kind, giving, caring, loving person to everybody,” his wife Suzanne Hill said.
Suzanne and Daryl Hill were married for 17 years.
“Friend, family and stranger: he cared for everybody and helped everybody and always stepped in, which I think is ultimately what took his life,” she said.
Suzanne Hill said the family is doing a private celebration of life to honor Daryl.
Community members shared with Spectrum News 13 that Daryl’s actions impacted the Wolf Lake community profoundly, including those who did not know Daryl but heard about his willingness to help others following his death.
George Fields is a parent of a Wolf Lake Elementary School student.
“We don’t really know the full story, but understanding that, you know, life is precious, and you just don’t know what can happen,” he shared.
Kasha McCloud, another Wolf Lake Elementary parent, echoed a similar message.
“It’s just crushing. Any of us could be in that same situation, and like, my heart really goes out to them. It’s so sad. You know, you step up. You’re a good Samaritan. You try to be a good person. You’re a parent, maybe a husband, a dad, and you lose your life behind that. My heart really goes out to the family,” McCloud said. “I just pray that, like, we could all come together one as a community for the family.”
The Sheriff’s Office has identified and arrested the suspect, 26-year-old Raul Lionel Vazquez, charging him with second-degree murder involving a firearm.
State Attorney Monique Worrell’s office disclosed Vazquez’s criminal history, which includes a charge from last year of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon — for which the state attorney is still set to take Vazquez to trial on that charge — with the trial set to begin on Sept. 22.