Two 16-year-old boys have been arrested in connection with a horrifying shooting that left a young DoorDash driver dead and his 14-year-old brother seriously wounded while the siblings were making food deliveries in Tennessee.
The deadly ambush unfolded around 7:45 p.m. on October 15 at the Birchstone Village Apartments in Madison, a neighborhood just north of Nashville, where John Diaz Santos and his younger brother, Alan, had arrived in a black Infiniti sedan.
According to Metro Nashville Police, the brothers were sitting inside their vehicle when a gunman approached and suddenly opened fire. Moments later, two additional individuals moved toward the car, and one of them also began shooting.
As bullets struck the vehicle, John desperately attempted to escape, but his car crashed into a nearby fence. The attackers fled, leaving both brothers critically wounded.
John, whose age was reported as 21 by police and 22 by his family, was rushed to Skyline Medical Center, where he died. His 14-year-old brother suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was transported to Vanderbilt’s children’s hospital in critical condition.
The brothers’ parents later revealed that the two had been working together on DoorDash deliveries when the attack occurred.
Their father told local news station WSMV that John had been delivering food for more than a year to help support himself and his family. Earlier that evening, the family had been eating dinner together when John mentioned that he planned to bring his younger brother along on his delivery route.
It would be the last time they saw him alive.
The family’s grief was compounded by uncertainty over Alan’s survival. Their mother, Alicia Santos Jimenez, described the devastating loss of one son while desperately hoping the other would recover.
Fortunately, Alan has since been released from the hospital and is recovering from his injuries, according to NewsChannel 5.
After more than two weeks of investigating, detectives made their first arrest on Friday, October 30, taking 16-year-old Chad T. Wright into custody at his Nashville high school.
Hours later, police announced a second arrest. De’Nylen Montgomery, also 16, was apprehended on Rio Vista Drive by detectives assigned to the department’s TITANS Unit.
Both teenagers face charges of criminal homicide, attempted criminal homicide and engaging in a criminal conspiracy.
Investigators are examining whether the brothers were targeted during an attempted robbery, although authorities have not established a motive or explained what led the suspects to approach the vehicle.
It also remains unclear whether additional suspects will be arrested.
The tragedy has devastated the Diaz family, who remember John as a hardworking young man with a promising future and a deep love for his family.
A fundraiser established to help his loved ones describes him as caring, ambitious and devoted to those closest to him. The family is also seeking assistance returning his body to Mexico for burial.
As investigators continue piecing together the deadly confrontation, John’s parents are demanding justice for the son they lost and the younger brother who survived.
