'Life-altering event:' Road Rage shooting in Riverview leaves father of five dead
RIVERVIEW, Fla. - A driver is under arrest after a road rage shooting that left a father of five dead.
So far, no charges have been filed in the man's death, but the family of Bryan Proenza, 34, of Riverview, says he was needlessly shot by a driver who had just rammed the back of their truck.
READ: Man dies from gunshot wounds after road rage incident in Riverview, shooter arrested: HCSO
A memorial now marks the spot where Proenza lost his life.
"He (said) I am dying, and I love ya'll," said his fiancée Rachel Keesee. "I was like, ‘No you are not.’"
Bryan Proenza
Deputies have charged Jorge Ramirez, 20, with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for firing near the car that held Bryan's family.
The confrontation happened Tuesday afternoon at Balm Riverview and Rhodine Roads when a witness said Ramirez seemed upset that Proenza's truck was blocking the entrance to a parking lot he wanted to drive through to avoid a traffic light.
Deputies wrote Ramirez rammed them three times, which led to them stopping at the side of the road.
Proenza and Ramirez were both out of their vehicles when the shots were fired.
Proenza pictured with children
"Every second of my life it replays in my head, and I am traumatized," said Keesee.
Bryan was the father or stepfather to five kids. He grew up in Riverview, but that day, he was on his way with his fiancée to look at a new home.
"Weapons are definitely not the answer," said Keesee. "You're going to take a loved one's life from another family. (You have to) think about how would you feel if somebody took your loved one."
As detectives work to reconstruct what happened in the seconds before the shooting - whether the shooter's claim of self-defense holds up - the rest of Bryan's family must now move forward, knowing those few seconds will loom over them forever.
"This is not something that you can forget," said Proenza's mother, Sylvia Proenza. "This is a life-altering event."
Ramirez has bonded out of jail on the three aggravated battery charges.
He is not charged in Bryan's death, but the state attorney will make that determination.