Retired NYPD officer charged with murder after road rage shooting on the George Washington Bridge kills a father of two

A retired New York City police officer is in jail on a murder charge after a driver was shot to death during what has been described as a road rage confrontation on the George Washington Bridge.

Victor Romero, 62, is accused of killing Koran Irvine, a 46-year-old husband and father of two. Emergency crews were sent to the bridge after a call about a man who had been found unconscious in the driver's seat of a vehicle traveling toward the New Jersey end of the span.

Investigators say a single bullet hit Irvine in his right shoulder and tore through his body before leaving through the left side of his neck. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

'His family was his world'

Relatives remembered Irvine on a GoFundMe page created to pay for his funeral. They described a man overflowing with life and love who was devoted to the people closest to him. "His family was his world," the page says. It adds that he put in long hours every day to support his wife Patricia and their two children, Lea and Hiro.

Donations have poured in since the page went live. The fundraiser has already topped $100,000. Organizers say the money will go toward funeral and memorial costs as well as household bills, everyday expenses and the long-term needs of the two children as Patricia faces what the page calls a devastating new reality.

The organizers acknowledged that no amount of money could replace Irvine or ease the grief of losing him. They said a community pulling together could still give his wife and children some stability and comfort. People who cannot give were asked to share the page and keep the family in their thoughts and prayers.

Employer mourns a 'senseless act of violence'

Irvine worked for the utility Con Edison, which called his killing a "senseless act of violence." The company offered its deepest condolences to his relatives, friends, co-workers and everyone who knew and loved him.

A former Brooklyn drug detective

Romero left the New York Police Department in 2001. His retirement came after an off-duty gunfight in June 2000 in which he was shot in the hand and the chest while trying to stop a robbery at his family's laundromat.

The New York Post reported that he served six years with the department, including time as a narcotics detective in Brooklyn.

Irvine is survived by his wife and their two children.