56-year-old Daryl Hill had just taken his 10-year-old daughter to school when deputies say he stopped to help a woman in apparent distress.

APOPKA, Fla. — A 56-year-old father riding home after taking his daughter to her first day of school was fatally shot after stopping at the scene of a crash and trying to intervene in a confrontation between a man and a woman, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and an arrest affidavit.

Deputies arrested Raul Lionel Vazquez, 26, and charged him with second-degree murder with a firearm in the Aug. 11 death of Daryl Alexander Hill. Investigators said Hill had no connection to the dispute before he encountered it near Plymouth Sorrento and West Ponkan roads in the Apopka area. Witnesses described Hill arriving on a bicycle, stepping into the confrontation and later trying to get away before a single shotgun blast was fired. Vazquez acknowledged firing the weapon but told investigators that Hill attacked him first, according to the affidavit. The charge is an allegation, and the criminal case has not been adjudicated.

The encounter began shortly before 8:30 a.m., when deputies received reports that a man and woman were physically fighting inside a vehicle. Authorities said the vehicle crashed and the confrontation continued outside. An affidavit identified the vehicle as a heavily damaged white Chevrolet Silverado and identified the woman traveling with Vazquez as Kaidy Honaker. Witnesses told investigators that Vazquez, who was shirtless and without shoes, was arguing with Honaker beside the pickup after the crash. Hill happened upon the scene while riding his bicycle. The sheriff’s office later described him as a passerby who saw someone who appeared to need help.

Two witnesses gave investigators accounts indicating that Hill moved between Vazquez and the woman as the roadside argument continued, the affidavit said. A physical struggle then developed between Hill and Vazquez, and the two men went into nearby bushes. Honaker also became involved in the struggle. What began as a reported fight inside a moving vehicle had by then become a confrontation involving a man who had not been part of the original dispute. Investigators relied heavily on the statements of people who saw portions of that sequence when reconstructing what happened in the moments before the shooting.

According to those witness accounts, Hill emerged from the bushes and began moving away from Vazquez. Witnesses said his hands were raised and that he called for help as he ran. Investigators said Vazquez went to the pickup and retrieved a shotgun. One witness reported seeing him fire once toward Hill while Hill was moving away. Deputies arriving at the scene found Hill lying on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound. Orange County Fire Rescue took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:20 a.m., according to the affidavit. Authorities have released no indication that Hill was armed.

Vazquez presented investigators with a different account of how the confrontation began. According to the affidavit, he said an unknown man attacked him for an unknown reason after the crash. He also told detectives that Hill was getting the better of him during their fight despite Vazquez having years of mixed martial arts and wrestling training. Investigators wrote that Vazquez gave multiple versions of the encounter. The affidavit says he nevertheless acknowledged firing the shotgun. Detectives said witness accounts indicated Hill was unarmed and was no longer posing a threat when the shot was fired.

The circumstances that brought Hill to the intersection added another dimension to the case. His wife, Suzanne Hill, told local news outlets that her husband had just dropped off their 10-year-old daughter for her first day of school and was riding his bicycle home. She had been following his location on her phone to make sure he arrived safely. When his location stopped moving and he did not respond, she eventually went toward home and encountered investigators and a crime scene. She later learned that her husband had been killed during the confrontation that had unfolded along his route.

Hill’s relatives said his decision to stop was consistent with how he treated other people. Suzanne Hill described her husband as someone who routinely helped family members, friends and strangers. The couple had been married for 17 years, according to Spectrum News. Hill also had two adult children in addition to his 10-year-old daughter. His family said he was known for humor, generosity and a willingness to step in when he believed someone needed assistance. Those descriptions became central to the way relatives and members of the surrounding school community remembered him after the killing.

Parents connected to nearby Wolf Lake Elementary School also reacted to Hill’s death after learning that the shooting had occurred near the school on its first day back. Some said they did not know Hill personally but were shaken by the circumstances. The shooting also affected traffic near the school while deputies secured the intersection and homicide investigators worked at the scene. The sheriff’s office emphasized in its initial account that Hill had been trying to help someone who appeared to be in distress, while investigators continued gathering statements about the confrontation itself.

The murder charge was not Vazquez’s only pending criminal matter. The homicide affidavit said he was already free on bond in an unrelated 2025 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon case investigated by the Apopka Police Department. A judge signed a warrant on Aug. 11 that set no bond on the new second-degree murder charge, according to local reporting based on the court documents. Other reporting said a judge also addressed his custody status after his arrest. The earlier charge is separate from Hill’s death and, like the new murder charge, does not by itself establish guilt.

Authorities have not publicly identified a motive for the shooting beyond the circumstances described by witnesses and Vazquez during interviews. The available affidavit does not establish why the original fight inside the pickup began, and investigators have not announced a criminal charge against the woman who was with Vazquez. The accounts also differ on who initiated the physical contact involving Hill: witnesses portrayed him as intervening in an escalating dispute, while Vazquez and the woman gave statements that placed blame on Hill. Those conflicting versions are among the issues that would be tested through the court process rather than resolved by the arrest itself.

The homicide case remains unresolved. No reliable reporting reviewed through Sept. 22 showed a final disposition of the second-degree murder with a firearm charge against Vazquez. The accusation will therefore turn on evidence tested through the court process, including the differing accounts of how Hill entered the confrontation and what witnesses said he was doing when the shot was fired. An arrest and charge establish the allegations prosecutors intend to pursue; they do not establish guilt.

Author note: Last updated September 22, 2026.