ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A Good Samaritan was shot and killed while trying to break up a fight in Orange County.
Raul Lionel Vazquez, the man accused of pulling the trigger, appeared before a judge Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Daryl Alexander Hill.
Now, Hill’s wife is sharing her heartbreak with the community.
“I lost the love of my life and my best friend,” Suzanne Hill said.
For more than a decade, Suzanne and Daryl Hill built a life together. Now, she says her life is filled with pain after deputies say her husband was shot and killed while trying to help someone.
“Devastating, I’m heartbroken,” she said. “And trying to keep my daughter around some level of normalcy and yet remember her daddy, who she adored.”
According to the arrest affidavit, Daryl was riding a bicycle Tuesday morning near Plymouth Sorrento and West Ponkan roads when he stopped to intervene in a fight between Vazquez and a woman.
Deputies say the couple had been fighting inside a white pickup truck before it crashed into a black car.
Witnesses told investigators Vazquez removed the woman from the truck and was yelling in her face. That’s when Daryl stepped in.
Two witnesses told deputies a fight then broke out between the two men, with the woman joining in to help Vazquez.
Suzanne says she is not shocked at all that her husband was quick to try to help someone.
“Not in the slightest. Not in the slightest. He was always helping.”
The affidavit says the three went into nearby bushes. Witnesses told investigators Daryl later came out with his hands up, calling for help, before Vazquez grabbed a shotgun and shot him as he tried to run.
Hill was taken to the hospital, where he died.
Vazquez claims he was being attacked. But investigators say witnesses described Hill as unarmed and not a threat.
Suzanne says Daryl had just ridden scooters with their 10-year-old daughter to her first day of school. He never came home.
“So I left work to go check on him, and I pulled up to crime scene tape and eventually spoke to the detective who told me what happened,” Susan said.
Prosecutors Address Prior Arrests
The Orange County State Attorney’s Office said Wednesday that it is committed to seeking justice for Hill and his family, while emphasizing that the murder case will be prosecuted based on the evidence, facts and law.
State Attorney Monique Worrell’s office also addressed questions about Vazquez’s prior arrests, stressing that an arrest is not a conviction and that prosecutors must evaluate each case based on the available evidence and the cooperation of witnesses and victims.
According to the State Attorney’s Office, Vazquez was arrested August 11 and is facing the second-degree murder charge with a firearm in Hill’s death.
Prosecutors also said Vazquez was arrested in November 2025 and initially charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The court set a $5,000 bond and imposed conditions that included no contact with the co-defendant, victims or witnesses, along with a requirement that he surrender any firearms within 24 hours of release. The State Attorney’s Office later formally filed two aggravated-assault counts, and that case is tentatively set for trial September 22, 2026.
The State Attorney’s Office said Vazquez was also arrested in March 2025 on domestic-violence battery charges, but prosecutors ultimately could not proceed after the alleged victim declined to cooperate and said they did not want to participate.
In May 2024, Vazquez was arrested on an aggravated-assault-with-a-firearm charge. Prosecutors said they were unable to proceed because the alleged victim was unavailable or unwilling to cooperate. The office noted that case occurred while Andrew Bain was serving as the appointed state attorney.
The State Attorney’s Office cautioned that prior arrests do not establish guilt and that cases in which prosecution could not proceed cannot be treated as proof that the alleged conduct occurred.
Vazquez appeared before a judge Wednesday and was ordered held without bond. He was already out on bond in the aggravated-assault case.
Suzanne says she wants justice for her husband and her family.
“I want him to suffer for doing this to us, for taking my life, my husband’s life,” she said.
But Suzanne also wants people to remember Daryl not for how he died, but for how he lived.
“Behind the laughter and fun, was a warm, caring, and sincere person who really loved people, especially his family,” she said.
She says she is grateful for the love and support from the entire community. Close friends have set up a gofundme to help her family which she says she is thankful for.
Vazquez is due back in court next week. We will keep you updated.