On November 24, 2024, Hwarang Joo, 39, was shot and killed while leaving his Antioch, Tennessee, chicken restaurant. Joo was pulling out of the shopping center parking lot in his Volkswagen SUV when gunfire erupted during a dispute that did not involve him. Struck by a bullet from an AR-style rifle, his vehicle accelerated and crashed into a nearby dental office; emergency responders found him deceased inside the car on Bell Road.

Metro Nashville Police investigators say Joo was an innocent bystander in an exchange of gunfire between two groups. Two 17-year-old twin brothers, Marcos and Emilio Leyva-Hernandez, were identified as primary suspects after surveillance images were released and tips came in. Marcos was taken into custody on November 28, 2024; Emilio was arrested following a traffic stop on December 6, 2024. Both face criminal homicide charges in Juvenile Court and multiple counts of attempted criminal homicide related to occupants of the other vehicle. Joo is remembered by his family as a devoted husband and father to two small children.

If anyone saw the shooting, the vehicles involved, or has information that could help investigators, please come forward.