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Authorities said a 32-year-old Brevard County sheriff's deputy faces murder charges after a road rage incident in Palm Bay early last week.According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Yousef Hafza, of West Melbourne, was off duty at the time of the incident, did not identify himself as a law enforcement officer and was not acting in a law enforcement capacity.The FDLE said Hafza's vehicle and another vehicle nearly collided on June 19 just after 11 a.m. The driver and a passenger followed Hafza’s car. Hafza and the victims stopped their vehicles and exited. Authorities said during their interaction, Hafza fired his weapon, resulting in the death of the other vehicle's passenger, Clarence Howard. The driver of the vehicle was not injured.On Tuesday morning, Hafza was arrested and taken to the Brevard County Jail, where he's being held without bail."Cases involving a member of your own agency are best facilitated with complete transparency that ensures public trust while also protecting the integrity of the investigation," Sheriff Wayne Ivey said. "As such, from the very beginning of the incident, I asked FDLE to conduct an independent investigation and present their findings to the State Attorney's Office for a full review of the facts. Following their review, the state attorney authorized an arrest warrant, which resulted in Yousef Hafza being charged today by FDLE."Ivey said Hafza was immediately suspended without pay pending an administrative review of the incident.An arrest warrant affidavit said Hafza's car almost hit the one in which Howard was a passenger. The driver of that car followed Hafza until both stopped and the three men got out. According to the affidavit, Hafza said he tried to apologize, saying, "Dude, I swear I'm good. I'm sorry. I didn't know what I did." Hafza said the two men came at him and that he was in fear for his life, so he fired."We encourage our deputies to always be armed. Most of them do," Ivey said.The affidavit also gives the other driver's side of the story: "Hafza asked, 'Why are you chasing me?' Montanez replied, 'I'm not chasing you. I just want to know why you almost hit me.' Hafza then said, 'Oh yeah, (expletive)' and began shooting."The medical examiner said Howard was instantly paralyzed by one of six shots fired by Hafza. He fell 50 feet from Hafza's shell casings. Based partly on that, Hafza was taken to jail and charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. His attorney visited him in jail Tuesday.WESH 2 News asked Hafza's attorney, Martin White, if Hafza is innocent."As it stands right (now), yes, he's innocent," White said.