Tennessee women found in Michigan

Dec. 1—Two Tennessee women were found dead after a car crash and police-involved shooting in Dearborn, Michigan.

A Dearborn Police officer received a flagged license plate on a black 2020 Dodge SRT with a Tennessee license plate on Sunday and attempted a traffic stop. The vehicle fled, and after losing sight of the vehicle in heavy rain and traffic, officers terminated the pursuit.

"Shortly after, we're talking 30 seconds or so, as they continued down the road, they came across debris in the roadway and ultimately discovered that the vehicle they were chasing had crashed into a house," Dearborn Police Commander Timothy McHale said.

The officers excited their vehicle to approach and saw that the force of the impact had forced open the trunk of the vehicle, where they found 31-year-old Eleni Kassa, who had been previously reported missing from Murfreesboro.

"At that point in time, they were ordering occupants out of the vehicle, and there was a gunshot that rang out from the driver's side of the vehicle," McHale said. "There was a Dearborn officer that returned fire."

Officers discovered the driver, Dominique Hardwick, 36, from Lebanon, was deceased from a gunshot wound to the head. Michigan state police later confirmed with the Wayne County Medical Examiner that the wound was self-inflicted.

Lebanon Police Department Public Information Officer P.J. Hardy said that Hardwick was involved in an incident in March if 2021, which the district attorney's office deemed as self defense.

"We understand that she was one of the ones involved in the Dearborn, Michigan, incident, but these are two entirely separate incidents," Hardy said. "It's very unfortunate, and we understand the family's grief during this time."

Michigan State Police Public Information Officer Lieutenant Michael Shaw said that they're currently waiting on autopsy results to determine Kassa's cause of death.

"We're seeing if we can find out where exactly that occurred," Shaw said. "Depending on what the venue is where the charges will come from, so that's kind of what we're looking at now."

A passenger with minor injuries from the accident was taken into custody.

"We do have that third person that was in the vehicle that is not deceased that we're still talking to now to determine if they're going to be a victim, a suspect, or if she's going to be charged with some other crimes," Shaw said. "If she turns out to be a victim, then we won't identify her any further, but if she's a suspect or charged with something, then, we'll release that."

Michigan State Police and Murfreesboro Police have been communicating with each other regarding the case and working together.