In the early morning hours of April 24, 2016, the quiet of a Savannah, Georgia neighborhood was shattered by violence. Inside a residence located in the 1900 block of East DeRenne Avenue, 35-year-old Tarik Rasheen Bentley, a Black male, was found deceased. Responding to a call at approximately 7 a.m., Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department officers discovered Mr. Bentley had sustained a fatal gunshot wound. The residence was quickly secured as a crime scene while detectives began the work of piecing together the events that led to the tragic death.
The investigation into the homicide continued for several weeks. Authorities appealed to the public for any information that might lead to an arrest, offering the possibility of a cash reward for tips that could help solve the case. The efforts of law enforcement, including the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, its K9 unit, and the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force of the U.S. Marshals Service, culminated in a significant breakthrough nearly a month after the incident.
On May 19, 2016, a suspect was apprehended in connection with the murder of Tarik Bentley. Twenty-five-year-old Kiwani Khalif Patterson was taken into custody at approximately 2 p.m. and subsequently charged with the murder. His arrest marked a pivotal moment in the investigation, bringing a sense of resolution to a case that had left a community searching for answers.
