Manhunt For 'Cold-Blooded Killers' Underway In Nashville

NASHVILLE, TN — A manhunt is underway in Nashville for “two cold-blooded killers” with no respect “for the sanctity of human life,” according to police investigating whether a string of murders over the past month are related. The latest killings occurred early Friday morning, when a man celebrating his 33rd birthday and a friend were gunned down outside a Nashville club, police said.

Bartley Teal, who was celebrating his birthday, and Jaime Sarrantonio were both killed in the armed robbery around 3 a.m. Friday, according to the Nashville Police Department. The description of the suspects matched two people sought in a spate shootings that occurred within a 10-mile area in a period of about nine days, police said.

“These are just two senseless cold blooded homicides,” Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said at a news conference Saturday.

Police warned Nashville residents to be on the guard, travel in groups and be extra alert about their surroundings. Three people have died in three separate shootings and police are pursuing active leads in both homicide cases, while also looking at other recent shootings, Aaron said.

After Teal and Sarrantonio were shot, the suspects fled in a small dark Chevrolet vehicle — the same type of getaway vehicle used in the Aug. 14 killing of Kendall Rice, 21, who was killed during an apparent robbery as he walked to catch a bus to go to work, police said.

Aaron said police have “not ruled out” a connection between those two shootings and a third, which occurred on Aug. 8 when a woman was shot in the back as she took her dog for a quick walk just after midnight, television station WKRN reported. Police have said the suspect was driving a small dark Chevrolet sedan in that shooting, too.

The 39-year-old woman told The Tennessean that she saw the vehicle pass her on dark, desolate road in her subdivision and then turn around. Worried, she moved onto her neighbor’s lawn, where she was shot. The bullet grazed her spine, leaving her paralyzed. A GoFundMe campaign has been established to help cover medical expenses.

Police also are looking into the Aug. 15 robbery of Ryan Noble, 30, by two men who matched the suspects’ description. They are black and at least one of them has dreadlocks, police said.

“Anything is a possibility and everything is on the table,” Aaron said at the news conference.

Aaron urged anyone who may have witnessed the shootings or spoken to the suspects to contact investigators.

“Frequently these suspects involved in crimes like these talk, talk amongst themselves,” he said. “They talk amongst their friends, they talk amongst their associates.”

Anyone with information on the murderers or the small Chevrolet car is asked to immediately contact Crime Stoppers at (615) 742-7463. Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward.

File photo by Jenna Fisher / Patch