A Latino father was shot in his car while delivering food with his wife and two children in Victorville, California.
Marco Lara Jr., a 24-year-old father of three, died Thursday after being shot on Highway 15, according to California authorities, who are still trying to solve the crime and arrest the killer.
“He loved us.
She protected us all the time,” Jennifer Lara, her sister, told NBC Los Angeles.
“He loved her children.
He loved his children very much,” she added.
[A father kills his three daughters and another person before taking his own life in a California church]
Lara was driving down Interstate 15 last Thursday at 7:30 p.m. to make a home delivery.
His wife, Katelyn, was also traveling in the car;
his 4-year-old daughter and his 1-year-old son.
The vehicle in front began to brake, bringing him to a stop on the exit ramp.
Lara then got out of the car: “He stood up for what he believed was right at the time.
He thought he could figure out what was going on with the other car,” his wife said.
Las Vegas shooting leaves at least one dead and three injured
Feb. 27, 202200:15
But the other driver pulled out a gun and shot Lara several times before fleeing.
The young man was pronounced dead on the road where he was shot at 7:46 p.m., according to the coroner.
Her relatives assure that the 4-year-old girl saw everything: “Last night she was crying.
All I could do was hug her and tell her that he is taking care of her from heaven,” her wife said.
Because it was night and dark, she couldn't get a good look at the attacker or the car, she said.
The California Highway Patrol, which is investigating what happened as a homicide, attributed the encounter to "a possible road rage incident," the Daily Press reported, and is trying to locate surveillance video to identify the killer's car.
[They record how 17 people are shot at a funeral in Michoacán but the police do not find bodies, only cleaning products]
"The driver of the sedan re-entered his vehicle and fled the scene on the Nisqualli exit ramp and continued in an unknown direction," he said in a statement.
"You never expect someone's life to be taken because of road rage," his wife lamented.