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Nashville mourns murder of Aloompa’s Jaime Sarrantonio

Friends and colleagues have paid tribute to Jaime Sarrantonio, account manager at app developer Aloompa and a respected figure in Nashville’s independent music scene, after she lost her life in an apparent robbery in the early hours of Friday morning.

Sarrantonio, 30, was outside the Cobra Nashville bar, on Gallatin Avenue in east Nashville, Tennessee, at around 3.30 on 17 August when she and three friends were set upon by two men, police say. Sarrantonio and 33-year-old Bartley Teal, a local musician, were shot and killed after Teal told the robbers he had nothing to give them.

A manhunt is underway for the perpetrators, described by police spokesman Don Aaron as “cold-blooded killers”, who are believed to be behind a string of recent shootings in the area, Reuters reports.

Sarrantonio (pictured) had been at Nashville-based Aloompa since August 2016, working with festival clients including Superfly (Outside Lands, Clusterfest), Rock in Rio, Ultra Europe and country music event CMA Fest. She was also festival manager at RedGorilla Music Fest, an independent music festival in Austin, Texas, and executive assistant at Tinderbox Music, a music promotions and distributions company representing unsigned artists.

Jon Belanger, CEO of Tinderbox Music, says Sarrantonio “worked harder than everyone else.” “She was very smart,” he tells the Tennessean. “She chose to work in independent music and champion it for the last ten years.”

“She had a tremendously positive impact on everyone she spent time with”

In a statement provided to IQ, Aloompa says its staff are “heartbroken over the loss of our dear friend and team member. Jaime Sarrantonio was loved by everyone at Aloompa and by the many clients she worked with on our behalf over the years.

“She had a tremendously positive impact on everyone she spent time with. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to her family and friends at this time. We will all miss Jaime and her compassionate and joyful presence.”

Stefany Reed, a former colleague of Sarrantonio’s at Aloompa, describes her late co-worker as “the person that you always want in the room, the friend that is down for anything, and is just a beacon of light”. “The world lost one of the best” on Friday morning, she adds. “Love you always, Jaime. You will be so, so missed.”

A statement from the Cobra says that “no words can convey our sadness and shock at this time”, adding it plans to organise special shows in the near future to “celebrate the lives” of both Sarrantonio and Teal.

At press time, a GoFundMe page had raised nearly US$3,000 towards a memorial service for Sarrantonio, “put on by friends, here in Nashville. Hug your loved ones.”

 


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