A Pembroke Pines family is mourning Henry Campanaro, who was shot dead after what Hollywood police say may have been a case of road rage.
Campanaro, 43, a real estate agent in Miami, was at Hollywood beach with his brother-in-law Erwin Villafane on Sunday night before he died.
“They were hanging out on the Broadwalk and were on their way home,” said Jenny Campanaro, 44, who is married to Villafane and is Henry’s sister. “My husband called me when my brother was shot.”
The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office said Thursday that Henry Campanaro died in the 300 block of Arizona Street at about 1:19 a.m. Sunday.
Police have declined to release any additional information about the medical examiner’s findings or about the killing that happened near North Surf Road.
Campanaro said she rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood and witnessed paramedics working on her brother as the gurney carrying him was wheeled inside.
The family had to wait several hours to learn that her brother had died, she said.
“They couldn’t tell us anything until the detective arrived,” Campanaro said. “It was torture while we were waiting.”
Henry Campanaro is survived by his daughter Mia, 11, their extended family and his longtime girlfriend and business partner, Niaann Morgan. The couple’s firm is called Morganaro International Group, LLC.
Friends and relatives were traveling to South Florida from South America and elsewhere for the private funeral service to be held on Sunday, Campanaro said.
“He was a happy guy, funny, always making people laugh,” she said.
He was also generous, she said, and would buy bags of food from McDonald’s to give to homeless people.
If someone admired his sneakers, he’d part with them, and once paid for a supermarket cart for a man who filled it with items for a baby, she said.
Henry Campanaro and Morgan also managed properties, and if their clients were from abroad and their kids attended college in South Florida, he’d watch out for them on behalf of their parents, Campanaro said.
“He loved doing real estate,” she said. “He’s a charmer, he’s got charisma. He was good at it, him and his girlfriend Niaann.”
Another love: Motorcycles, including a flashy, custom red, silver and black show bike he called “The Monster,” Campanaro said.
“He loved the freedom he felt while he was riding,” Campanaro said.
“He was loved,” she said. “It’s just so sad that we’re not going to see him any more. And we’re all feeling that.”
ljtrischitta@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @LindaTrischitta