A U.S. special forces veteran is accused of shooting his wife and fleeing. A blurry trail camera photo is his last sighting

A manhunt is underway in Tennessee for a retired U.S. special forces veteran accused of trying to kill his wife.

A blurry photo captured by a trail camera is the last known sighting of Craig Berry, a special forces veteran at the centre of a manhunt now accused of trying to kill his wife.

The image shows a man in camouflage, believed to be Berry, running into the Tennessee woods in the middle of the night after the shooting, Stewart County Sheriff Frankie Gray told CNN.

Berry’s wife called 911 early Friday morning, saying she had been shot during a domestic dispute, an arrest affidavit from the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office shows.

By the time investigators got to the couple’s home, Berry had vanished, Gray said. The 53-year-old hasn’t been seen since, the sheriff said, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

The shooting happened in the northern Tennessee city of Dover, just south of the Kentucky border.

Despite the intense pursuit, many residents in the “close-knit” community aren’t worried, said John Bidwell, manager of The Dip Dairy Freeze diner.

“I would say (the mood) is pretty casual,” Bidwell told CNN. “I think most people are armed.”

The sheriff shared a similar sentiment: “It’s not (that) everybody’s got a weapon. Usually, everybody’s got several,” Gray said.

Wife said Berry tried to strangle her

Berry’s wife told officials the shooting happened at their home after a verbal argument turned physical, the affidavit shows. She recalled being hit in the head several times before her husband tried to strangle her.

The wife eventually escaped and ran to her vehicle, the document shows.

Berry then shot at his wife, hitting her in the neck, but the woman still managed to drive away, the affidavit says. Berry then allegedly got in his truck to chase her, but crashed.

“The suspect fled into the woods near the residence before deputies arrived,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post Monday.

Berry’s wife has since been released from the hospital, Gray told CNN.

Suspect came home for ammo, officials say

As a retired special forces veteran, Gray says Berry is trained to hunker down in the woods and stay put for a while.

“He is an excellent swimmer and diver, and is in good physical shape,” the post said. “He is armed with at least one handgun and is believed to have taken extra ammunition.”

After the shooting, Berry returned home, changed into camouflage clothing and apparently retrieved more ammunition, Gray told CNN.

Berry was deployed to Iraq four times and left the Army as a sergeant first class, a spokesperson for the US Army said.

“Craig M. Berry was an Infantryman (11B) and Special Forces Medical Sergeant (18D) in the regular Army from 1992 to 2016,” spokesperson Christopher Surridge told CNN.

Berry called his parents while on the run, sheriff says

Investigators scaled back the massive search Sunday into Monday due to weather, Gray said. But one particular area near the crime scene still needs to be combed over.

“We’re still focusing on pretty much the same area, but we’re going to expand it a little bit,” Gray told CNN on Tuesday. “We’re going to search really, really detailed. Slow and methodical.”

Several law enforcement agencies are assisting with the case, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Tennessee Highway Patrol, Gray said.

But search crews are also hindered by the rough terrain. About 30 miles from Dover is the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, considered “one of the largest contiguous blocks of undeveloped forest in the eastern United States.”

“We are not ruling out the possibility that he has received some outside assistance after the incident,” the sheriff’s office said. “We have no information that he is no longer in the area.”

Investigators know Berry called his parents after the shooting, Gray said, without providing further details. The parents have been cooperating with investigators, the sheriff added.

The manhunt evoked memories of another search for a suspect that haunted Stewart County for days.

In 2018, murder suspect Kirby Wallace evaded authorities for a week, CNN affiliate WTVC reported. He was eventually captured and later pleaded gulity to murder, attempted murder, burglary, robbery, kidnapping and arson.

Gray, who had only been sheriff for about a week when the Wallace manhunt started, said the search for Berry poses even more difficulties.

“His training taught him to get as far away as he can from populated areas,” the sheriff said. “He may be trying to get out of the area. But Kirby wasn’t. He stayed in that one particular area the whole time.”

And Berry, armed with weapons, “is really trained to survive in the outdoors,” Gray said. “It’s just different … This guy’s just not going to pop out on the side of the road. He’s probably in it for the long haul.”

By Holly Yan, Dianne Gallagher, Sneha Dhandapani, Amanda Musa, CNN