{"id":379606,"date":"2026-10-22T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379606\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T12:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T12:00:16","slug":"nyc-suburb-rocked-by-arrest-of-retired-nypd-detective-accused-of-road-rage-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379606\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC suburb rocked by arrest of retired NYPD detective accused of road rage murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

The arrest of a retired NYPD detective for the deadly road-rage shooting of a father of two<\/a> on the George Washington Bridge has shocked his neighbors, who saw him as a \u201cgreat person\u201d who \u201ccared about the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victor Romero, 62, who allegedly shot dead Koran Irvine, 46, on the traffic-packed crossing Tuesday night, had retired from New York\u2019s Finest 25 years ago after he was shot while off duty in 2000.<\/p>\n

The retired cop, also a married dad, lived in a quiet townhouse community in Haverstraw in Rockland County where everyone who spoke to The Post painted him as an almost perfect neighbor.<\/p>\n

Koran Irvine was killed in a shooting on the George Washington Bridge on Oct. 20, 2026. Instagram\/Koran Irvine<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so surprised when I heard this. I thought it couldn\u2019t be true. I said, \u2018No, you\u2019re confused, it\u2019s not him,\u2019\u201d Paola Ventura, 26, said of shocking news of the arrest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw him on Monday and we talked about my dog. I had a problem with my car and he helped me. One day my dog ran out of the house and he helped me get him back. I\u2019m in shock, really,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The community board president, Ann Tartaglione, said Romero lived with his wife and his daughter who is in college and also had a son who did not live with them. She said he \u201cwanted to help the community\u201d and even put up his own money for a recent tree removal project.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cared about the community,\u201d Tartaglione said. \u201cI\u2019m shocked. I really am shocked. I feel bad for the family, both families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another neighbor, Luis Polanco, said Romero was \u201cnever aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

A retired NYPD detective was arrested in the shooting of Irvine in what investigators believe was a road-rage incident. Kyle Mazza\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he could do something for you, he would do it. I got into a car accident and he helped me with the paperwork and what I needed to do. He\u2019s so friendly. I saw him Monday afternoon,\u201d he said in Spanish through a translator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never saw him angry. He\u2019s a great person,\u201d added local Juan Duran.<\/p>\n

Koran Irvine, 46, was on his way home from an overtime shift with Con-Edison when Romero allegedly fired a single shot in a fit of rage which struck him right shoulder around 7:15 p.m. on the New Jersey-bound upper level of the crossing, according to cops and his family.<\/p>\n

People arrive at Irvine\u2019s home in New City, NY, on Oct. 21, 2026. Douglas Healey for NY Post<\/p>\n

Irvine was rushed to Englewood Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

Romero admitted to being the shooter to investigators and handed the gun to police, sources told The Post.<\/p>\n

Romero had worked with Brooklyn North Narcotics before he retired in late July of 2001 \u2014 a result of an off-duty gun battle about a year earlier at his family\u2019s dry cleaning business, King\u2019s Laundromat on Kings Highway in East Flatbush, police sources said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The arrest of a retired NYPD detective for the deadly road-rage shooting of a father of two on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[26802,57,9,24,56,63,65,64,103,17689,3980,58],"class_list":["post-379606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-george-washington-bridge","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nypd","tag-road-rage","tag-shootings","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}