Family fundraises for father killed protecting carjacking victim

A man killed while helping the victim of a carjacking on Sunday was a U.S. Navy veteran and father of three.

Members of Gary Hill’s family described him as the kind of person who always stopped to help others.

“What he did is what he would have done,” Hill’s brother Ed Doak said, confirming it was his brother who was shot and killed. “He always tried to help. That lady needed help, he tried to provide it. And that’s him.”

Doak, a fellow veteran, said Hill often helped out the underdog.

Hill, from Spokane, was in Stateline, Idaho, when he saw a woman getting her car stolen at gunpoint. Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said at a news conference on Sunday that Hill went to help the woman before being shot and killed by the carjacker.

Before that, the suspect stole multiple other vehicles and then was chased by police in a chase that reached speeds of 140 mph. The crime spree ended when the suspect fled on Interstate 90 toward Spokane, crashed the stolen vehicle, exited with a rifle in hand, and was shot and killed by a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy.

“They took the only action they could,” Doak said. “In my opinion, it was probably the best way for that to end so that nobody else had to die.”

Hill’s family set up a fundraiser on GoFundMe with a goal of $7,500 to help cover the cost of a memorial yet to be scheduled. The fundraiser had received $250 in donations as of Monday evening.

“Gary Hill, father to three, grandfather to three, and friend to many, passed away tragically on Father’s Day 2025 – a heartbreaking loss, even as he died a hero,” the GoFundMe page states.

Hill is survived by his son Charlie Hill and two daughters Laurie Hill and Chivaun Penaloza.

“He was brave. He was honorable. He was a hero,” Doak said.