Denver Police: Road rage leads to fatal shooting

DENVER – Paramedics rushed to a two-vehicle crash in southwest Denver Saturday afternoon only to find a man shot to death. Police would later say the man lost his life simply because he flipped off another driver.

The man who allegedly pulled the trigger was identified Monday as David Garcia, 28, who police say was under investigation for a fatal shooting just two days earlier on Thanksgiving morning. He was arrested the same day police say he killed Miguel Baray, 28, in the road-rage incident in the 3100 block of Kentucky Avenue.

According to a police report, Garcia was in a stolen Audi behind Baray stopped at a stop sign. Garcia told police that Baray took too long at the sign so he honked at Baray. The victim then flipped Garcia off, at which time Garcia accelerated and pulled up along Baray and shot him with a .45 caliber handgun, the report said. The victim's car rolled and crashed into a parked car at the scene.

Baray's family members are stunned to hear the loving father of two who was a newly wed was gunned down during a road rage incident.

"I don't think any of us have really come to terms that he is not going to come through the door," a family member, who didn't want to be identified, said. 

Surveillance video led police to Garcia, which detectives say showed his stolen Audi following behind the victim's Honda on Kentucky Avenue. Detectives also found a spent .45 caliber cartridge at the scene, the report said. Police say the gun used to kill Baray was found in the stolen Audi. 

Detectives were already closing in on Garcia after the Thanksgiving day shooting that left Luis Zamora-Ornelas, 20, dead. The injured victim reportedly crawled to a neighbor’s front porch to ask for help in the area of East 43rd Avenue and Fillmore Street. A motive in that shooting was not released.

Garcia was booked into the Denver County Jail under first-degree murder charges. He is also being held on a separate first-degree assault and aggravated robbery warrant. Charges in the Thanksgiving day homicide have yet to be filed.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for Baray's family.