A 35-year-old Indiana man was shot to death during a chase following a honking incident on May 1, police said.
Ryan Hawkins, who was deaf, was involved in a honking incident on I-65 and had tried to flee from the suspects when he was shot.
“Ryan was trying to speed off, like he was trying to get away,” his friend Ben Levine said.
Hawkins suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the neck and his car veered off-road to a pond where his bullet-riddled Hyundai Elantra became submerged.
The following day, Indiana State Police arrested 24-year-old Andre Briski and Shawna Rowland in connection to Hawkins’ death.
Briski was charged with murder after he admitted to shooting Hawkins for “brake-checking” him.
“I’ll tell you right here, I did it,” Briski reportedly told detectives. “I didn’t mean to, I was afraid that we were going to crash and die.”
Meanwhile, Hawkins’ family and friends remembered the Gallaudet University graduate as a light in their lives.
“When deaf people meet deaf people, you click instantaneously, because you have similar lives, but Ryan just connected with everyone, he was a beautiful soul,” brother Drew said.
