NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) -- After detectives spotted a car linked to armed robberies at Nashville convenience stores, they called in helicopter support. Then, while under aerial surveillance, two suspects allegedly robbed a store and were taken into custody shortly afterward.
According to a Davidson County affidavit, at approximately 9:09 p.m. on May 27, members of the Metro Nashville Police Department responded to a commercial robbery in the 3700 block of Nolensville Pike. Employees and customers who were at the store during the incident told officers two masked individuals -- one of whom displayed a rifle or a shotgun -- entered the business.
Authorities said the armed suspect stayed near the front door as a lookout while the other went behind the counter to the register. Both individuals reportedly spoke Spanish and demanded money from the employees, who opened the register and gave the unarmed suspect the money. The unarmed suspect placed the money in a backpack he brought with him and then both individuals left the store and got in a black Dodge Charger.
"Suddenly, they came and they got me and they were asking for money," cashier Asif Muhammad said. "They took all the money from the cash register and they left."
Then, based on another affidavit, officers responded to the 300 block of Haywood Lane for an attempted commercial robbery shortly before 10 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12. The employee and customer who witnessed the incident reported three suspects entered the location with weapons.
According to officials, the employee realized what was happening and ran out of the store, but the suspects approached the customer and pointed guns at him. However, when the customer told the suspects he didn't work at the business, the suspects left without getting anything.
Police said the suspects got in a silver Toyota sedan with a red and black racing strip along the top of the vehicle, a black spoiler, silver rims, damage to the left taillight and bumper, and stickers on the gas cap and the back window.
Then, on Thursday, June 13, MNPD said its detectives saw a car linked to the convenience store robberies. Aerial footage the department posted on social media platform X shows a vehicle matching the description from Wednesday's incident outside of a store, which two of the car's occupants allegedly robbed while the helicopter was overhead.
According to authorities, detectives conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and both armed men were arrested in a "coordinated takedown."
Police identified the driver as 20-year-old Manuel Adalberto Mejia Guzman and the passenger as 22-year-old Jonathan Lanusa. During their interviews at MNPD headquarters, Mejia Guzman told law enforcement he was involved in the May 27 robbery on Nolensville Pike and Lanusa admitted his involvement in Wednesday's attempted robbery on Haywood Lane, per the affidavits.
"This was my first experience and it was literally very terrible, but thank God that within those next 45 minutes or hour those guys got caught," Muhammad added. "That's a good thing."
Officials said Mejia Guzman and Lanusa are both charged with three counts of aggravated robbery and one count of attempted aggravated robbery, with bonds set at $140,000 each.
No additional details have been released about the various robberies.