Tito Cleveland

Tito Cleveland was a hardworking and selfless man, known for his kindness and dedication to his job and colleagues. A 30-year-old African-American car salesman, he had spent six or seven years at United Nissan in Las Vegas, Nevada, working his way up through the ranks. His coworker and childhood friend, Allen McFarland, remembered him as a "very nice person" who had his "head on right." Tito was the kind of person who would go out of his way to give colleagues a ride home. A graduate of Mojave High School, he came from a large family with several brothers and sisters. His friend believed he was likely visiting relatives on the day his life was tragically cut short.

The evening of Sunday, August 5, 2012, unfolded into one of the most bizarre homicide cases Las Vegas Metro Police had seen in recent memory. It began at 6:09 p.m. when a patrol officer near the intersection of Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards saw a maroon Nissan Maxima run a red light. The officer noted that the car appeared to be empty, with no one visible in the driver's seat. Just before the officer spotted the car, police had received 911 calls reporting gunshots in the area just north of that intersection.

What followed was a chaotic and brief chase as the Maxima, seemingly steering itself, continued south. It struck two vehicles, jumped a median into the northbound lanes, and then crossed back over into a parking lot on the east side of the street. The car didn't stop there; it veered back onto Martin Luther King Boulevard, traveling south in the northbound lanes, where it collided with a third vehicle near Jimmy Avenue. The entire pursuit lasted only 10 to 15 seconds. Fortunately, no one else was injured in the series of collisions.

When the Nissan Maxima finally came to a stop, the pursuing officer approached and discovered the tragic reason for the erratic driving. Tito Cleveland was slumped over in the driver's seat. He had been shot multiple times. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Investigators believe he was shot while inside his car, with his foot likely stuck on the accelerator, leading to the posthumous police chase. The driver's side of his car had been struck by bullets.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Section took charge of the investigation. In the immediate aftermath, Homicide Lt. Ray Steiber acknowledged that they had very little information to work with. Key questions remained unanswered: where exactly the shooting occurred, how long Tito had been unconscious or deceased before his car was spotted, and who was responsible. "We want to know what happened," Steiber stated to the press. The day after the incident, police confirmed they had no leads on a shooter or shooters.

The news of Tito's violent death stunned his friends and colleagues. Morale at United Nissan plummeted. "We lost a real good dude," his friend Allen McFarland said, expressing his disbelief at how Tito's life ended. "He was somebody that meant a lot to this company and meant a lot to me."

As of the latest reports from August 2012, the case remains unsolved, and no arrests have been made. The investigation into the murder of Tito Cleveland is ongoing. Authorities have urged anyone with information about the shooting or the events leading up to it to come forward. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Section can be reached at 702-828-3521. For those wishing to remain anonymous, tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or through their website, crimestoppersofnv.com.