NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Alexander Tirado Rivera, 39, was shot and killed by metro police on Saturday after taking a hostage during an armed robbery.
At 11:45 a.m. today, the robber drove his 2007 Toyota Avalon into the parking lot of Easy Cash Solutions Loan Center at 1128 Murfreesboro Pike. He stopped the car in the middle of the lot outside the front door to the business and went inside. In doing so, he left the driver’s door of the Avalon open and the motor running. The license plate of the car had been removed and was later found on the passenger floorboard of the car.
An employee of neighboring Direct Auto Insurance became immediately suspicious when he saw how the robber parked. When he heard a commotion coming from inside the loan business, he activated the insurance company’s silent robbery alarm.
South Precinct Sergeant Scott Carter was in the immediate area when the robbery-in-progress call was broadcast over the police radio. As he arrived, Sergeant Carter saw the strangely parked Avalon and cautiously approached Easy Cash Solutions. Carter opened the front door and was immediately threatened at gunpoint by the robber. Carter fired in self-defense and backed out of the business. Moments later, the gunman came outside holding the 21-year-old female employee around the neck and a gun to her head. Carter demanded that the robber drop his weapon and surrender.
The courageous young woman believed she had an opportunity to free herself and began struggling with the robber. Just as she was breaking away, Carter fired on the man, fatally wounding him. The woman was unharmed and actually took the gun from the robber’s hand. An examination of the gun after the shooting showed that it was an air pistol.
The 21-year-old victim, a new employee at Easy Cash Solutions, later told detectives that the masked and gloved gunman came into the business and demanded money. After going to cash drawers, he demanded that she open the safe, all the while threatening to kill her.
The same office of the loan business was robbed of a significant amount of cash last Saturday at midday. The gunman in that case was also masked and gloved. Detectives are investigating whether last week’s robber and the one today are the same person.
Sergeant Carter, age 42, is a 17-year veteran of the MNPD. He is on routine administrative assignment while the shooting is investigated.
