HOWELL, Mich. – Amy Flemming said she and her husband almost made a quick stop on their way to pick up their kids from their first day of school Tuesday.
However, they were so excited to see their children, they decided to keep going. That's when a truck came out of nowhere.
"I can be sitting here now and I close my eyes and I can just see it over, and over, and over," said Amy.
In an unthinkable instant she knew her husband, Derek Flemming, the father of their two young children, was gone.
"It was horrible," she said.
View: Release from Flemming family
On Tuesday afternoon, the couple was on Grand River Avenue in Howell when a pickup truck came roaring up a side street.
"When it came I just thought that he was going to hit us," said Amy.
Instead, who investigators say was 69-year-old Martin Zale, tailgated the couple before passing them on the right, pulling in front of them and slamming on the brakes.
More: Man charged with murder in deadly road rage shooting
"My heart was pounding. I mean, my heart was just pounding," she said. "It was unreal. It was like he was toying with us because apparently we were going too slow."
Amy told her husband to turn down a side street. However, Derek was passing the street. At a light, Derek got out of the couple's SUV and walked toward Zale's pickup truck. There was no time for Amy to say anything.
As Derek approached the truck, witnesses say he had nothing in his hands. Investigators say the truck's window came down and Derek was shot in the head. The weapon used was a handgun.
"I'm thankful that I was there because I yelled and I screamed at him how much I loved him, how much our family loved him, how much we needed him, how much our kids loved him," said Amy. "I sat in the middle of the road with him and I turned my head and looked over at the guy in the truck and he just had a totally stone-cold look. It wasn't remorse. It wasn't shock. It wasn't grief. It wasn't anger. It was totally expressionless."
At that point, after watching her husband get gunned down, she had to think about getting someone to get their kids as they got off their bus. She rushed to tell them what happened to their father.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help support the Flemming family.
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Zale was arraigned Thursday on an open murder charge and firearms charges. He is being held at the Livingston County Jail without bond. Prosecutor William Vailliencourt said Zale presented his concealed weapons permit to police.