Man facing two attempted murder charges after I-95 road-rage shooting in Broward

A 31-year-old man is facing two counts of attempted murder after he allegedly shot at another car while driving on Interstate 95 in Broward County Sunday night.

The victims said a man, later identified as Lazaro Diaz-Gongora of Miami, leaned outside the window of a white Kia Optima that nearly crashed into them and shot at them four times, pausing after each shot to “take aim to shoot and kill the driver,” a Florida Highway Patrol arrest report said.

Shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday, the victims called 911 to report the shooting that happened in the northbound I-95 lanes in the area of Sunrise Boulevard and Oakland Park Boulevard. The victims, whose names are redacted in the report, said the Optima driver swerved into their lane, forcing them to merge into a different lane to avoid a crash.

The Optima driver then pulled in front of the victims’ car, driving slower, the report said. Diaz-Gongora leaned out of the passenger-side window and shot. One of the bullets pierced the hood of the victims’ car.

Diaz-Gongora shot a total of four times, pausing after each one to aim, the report said. Investigators learned that officers from the Miami Beach Police Department were investigating the same car for similar crimes, and the victims in those cases gave descriptions of the shooter similar to detail provided by Sunday’s victims.

Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies found the Optima shortly after 6 a.m. Monday in Pompano Beach, the report said. Deputies arrested Diaz-Gongora at a 7-Eleven gas station in the 1500 block of South Cypress Road without incident.

Authorities spoke to a woman who was in the car with Diaz-Gongora Sunday night who said the two had left the beach where they had been drinking and she nearly crashed into the victims’ car, the report said. After avoiding the crash, she pulled in front of the victims, and she said Diaz-Gongora then grabbed his gun and began to shoot.

The woman said she was afraid to report the shooting because “he has anger issues,” the report said. Diaz-Gongora told troopers he pulled out the gun but didn’t know a bullet was in the chamber when he began waving it at the other vehicle; he said he was “paranoid” that the other driver had flashed the car’s lights after narrowly avoiding the crash.

He is facing two counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting into a vehicle, jail records show.