Nashville police are scouring the city for two men who may be responsible for a string of shootings that left three people dead and two others wounded.
In the fatalities, two men traveling in a dark-colored Chevrolet shot the victims as they were walking down a street or standing in a parking lot in the early morning, according to police. All three killings happened during robberies, authorities said.
“Officers throughout the city are on the lookout for two cold-blooded killers who obviously have no respect whatsoever for the sanctity of human life,” said Don Aaron, Nashville Police Department spokesperson. No arrests had been made as of Monday.
On Friday, August 17, Bartley Teal, 33, and Jamie Sarrantonio, 30, were fatally shot about 3:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the Cobra bar on Gallatin Avenue in East Nashville, police said in a news release.
They had left the bar with two other people, walked to a convenience store for snacks and were returning to the bar when the two men confronted them in the parking lot, Aaron said at a news conference.
“Mr. Teal was told that it was a robbery,” Aaron said. “He reportedly said he had nothing to give. He was then fatally shot.”
Sarrantonio was shot a few moment later for unknown reasons, Aaron said.
“Detectives believe the murderers … were randomly looking for robbery victims and targeted the four when they arrived back at the Cobra parking lot,” police said in a news release.
Sarrantonio and Teal died after being taken to hospitals. The two other people were not hurt. The robbers drove away and dumped the victims’ belongings in an alley in north Nashville, police said.
The double murder appears to be connected to another killing that occurred a few days earlier, police said.
On Tuesday, August 14, Kendall Rice, 31, was shot about 4 a.m. while walking along Alta Loma Road to catch a bus to work at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Aaron said.
“According to a witness, two black men who appeared to be in their 30s, shot Rice and fled in a dark sedan,” police said in a news release. “Rice died at the scene. His personal belongings were missing. ”
Other robbery attempts happened August 14 that may be connected.
At 4:45 a.m., a man said he drove off after two men — one armed with a rifle — tried to rob him at the Rivergate Meadows Apartments on Rivergate Meadows Drive, police said. At 5:15 a.m., a man was shot and critically injured during a robbery attempt at an apartment complex on East Palestine Avenue.
These shootings may also be connected to the August 8 shooting of a woman in the Inglewood neighborhood, Aaron said.
The Tennessean newspaper said the woman, 39, was walking her dogs a little after midnight when two men driving by in a small, dark car shot her. She apparently was not robbed. The woman was wounded in the back, the newspaper said.
“We obviously have to consider the August 8 case as we pursue active leads in the two homicide cases,” Aaron told CNN.
One suspect is described as a black male with shoulder-length dreadlocks, Aaron said. The description of the other suspect is not detailed, he said.
