A trip from New York to Nashville proved fatal for 21-year-old Hispanic male Eliezer De La Cruz on September 1, 2018. While driving a rented SUV on Interstate 40 in the Hermitage area, just outside of Nashville, De La Cruz was pursued by at least one other vehicle. In a violent chase, his vehicle was fired upon, and he sustained gunshot wounds that proved to be fatal.
After being shot, De La Cruz's SUV went out of control, careening down an embankment and crashing.
When Metro Nashville police arrived at the scene, they discovered him deceased behind the wheel. A 21-year-old male passenger, who was from the Bronx, survived the crash with an injured leg. Inside the vehicle, authorities found a significant amount of cash, totaling in the thousands of dollars, leading investigators to believe the shooting was not a random act of violence.
Police believe that De La Cruz, who was from Yonkers, New York, had traveled to Nashville just a few days prior to his death. The investigation into his murder focused on who he was in Tennessee to meet and the origins of the large sum of money found in his rental car. Law enforcement officials in Nashville began the extensive task of piecing together his final days in their city, working to uncover a motive for what they considered a targeted attack. As of late 2018, the police were actively searching for the suspects involved in the deadly shooting, but no arrests had been publicly announced. The case remained an open and active homicide investigation.
