17 Year Old Twin Brothers Suspected in Murder of Nashville Restaurant Owner on Bell Road

Homicide detectives this evening arrested and charged Marcos Leyva-Hernandez, 17, with Sunday night's murder of Nashville restaurant owner Hwarang Joo, 39, in the parking lot of a shopping complex in the 1300 block of Bell Road.

Leyva-Hernandez and his twin brother, Emilio, are named in Juvenile Court petitions charging them with criminal homicide and three counts each of attempted criminal homicide. Emilio Leyva-Hernandez is at-large and is actively being sought. Anyone seeing him or knowing his whereabouts is asked to call 911 or Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.

The investigation shows that Joo had just left his business, Hot Stuff Chicken, and was pulling away in his Volkswagen SUV when gunfire erupted in the parking lot. Joo was hit and the Volkswagen accelerated before crashing into a dental office at 1315 Bell Road. The Leyva-Hernandez brothers are alleged to have used an AR-style rifle to open fire at the occupants of a Dodge Charger across the way. Joo, who was not involved in the dispute whatsoever, was shot in the head. The brothers fled in a Ford Taurus. The three persons in the Charger, who were not hit, also fled. Those individuals have been located and interviewed. The brothers are facing three counts of attempted criminal homicide related to them.

Information from the community helped lead to the identification of the brothers after surveillance photos of them were publicly disseminated via the MNPD's X platform on Tuesday.