Friends remember victim of deadly I-4 shooting

ORLANDO, Fla. - Friends of a man killed in a shooting incident along Interstate 4 spoke out for the first time. Their longtime friend, John Villafane, 53, was the passenger in a car when he was shot on I-4 Tuesday night. His friends told FOX 35 News that they were supposed to see John on the Fourth of July. They didn’t know that was the last time they would hear from him.

"He loved life. He loved his children. His children were his life," said Nicole Hernandez.

His friends said those who knew him best called him "John-John."

"He made you smile any time you walked in. Any way to make you smile," said Michael Rabuck.

Orange County deputies said Villafane was the passenger of a car heading eastound on I-4 around 7 p.m. on July 5, near Osceola Parkway and State Road 528. They said there was some kind of altercation with another vehicle when someone shot and killed Villafane.

"The sad part about this is somebody did this and could just get away with it because we don’t even have a description of this person and that’s killing me," said Hernandez.

John-John’s friends said he loved karaoke night, so they went out to celebrate him with some songs from the heart.

"The real song I want to sing for him was the Sky’s Crying and I can rip it out because I feel it. It’s in here. It hurts that people do this to people," said Robert Rabuck.

Deputies are asking anyone with information about the incident to report it to Crimeline at 80-423-TIPS (8477).