Ricardo Baez Cardenas, a 35-year-old Hispanic man originally from Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico, was shot and later died on March 7, 2025, after an early-morning road incident on Interstate 40 East near N. Harrison Avenue in Cary, North Carolina. The shooting happened about 6:20 a.m. while Cardenas was driving to work; his vehicle had veered to the side of the road and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead that afternoon.

Witnesses described aggressive driving that began when a sedan tried to merge into a lane occupied by a pickup, and one bystander recorded the moments before the shooting, reporting hearing gunshots and seeing shattered glass and debris. Investigators say the suspect’s vehicle exited the highway at Cary Town Boulevard before re-entering westbound. Law enforcement agencies including the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, and the Durham Police Department worked the scene; Sheriff Willie Rowe thanked the community and said the inquiry would be thorough. A 32-year-old Josue Alejandro Quintanilla-Reyes was arrested and charged with murder in connection to the shooting.

Cardenas was a father of two, Ricardo Jr. Baez and Valerie Rose Baez; funeral services were held at Clements Funeral Chapel in Durham with burial at Maplewood Cemetery. The motive remains under investigation. If anyone witnessed the incident or has information about the events on I-40 that morning, please come forward.