A Pittsburgh man is accused of fatally shooting a bouncer at a Lawrenceville lounge on Oct. 6 after the doorman would not let him inside the business because it was closed, Pittsburgh police said.
Eric O. Sudduth-Jones II, 24, of the city’s Perry South neighborhood, was arrested Monday on charges of criminal homicide in the death of Malcolm Nowlin, 26, of Penn Hills.
Nowlin died Oct. 8 at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Oakland from a gunshot wound to the head, police said.
He was found lying on the floor inside the Diljah Restaurant and Lounge at 4130 Butler St.
Police said they found 19 spent shells from a 9 mm Luger on the sidewalk and roadway in front of the Diljah Restaurant. Five bullets struck the front door, five shattered the front window and one hit the door’s wooden frame. Four spent bullets were in the building and one fired bullet was found on the sidewalk in front of 4129 Butler St., according to the criminal complaint.
Witnesses told police that Sudduth-Jones was arguing with Nowlin and told him he would beat Nowlin up if he came outside the lounge, according to the criminal complaint.
Sudduth-Jones was in the process of leaving when police said that he turned and began rapidly firing a gun with an extended magazine, according to the complaint. Sudduth-Jones fled in a Dodge Charger that police were able to track to Pittsburgh’s North Side about an hour after the fatal shots were fired using license plate readers.
Nowlin was a bouncer/doorman who had also worked at Silky’s Pub, according to the bar on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood.
“This world was a better place with Malcolm in it, and his positivity and genuine spirit will stay with us all,” the bar wrote Saturday in a Facebook post.
Neither Silky’s Pub nor Nowlin’s family responded to phone calls and emails Monday seeking comment.
Pittsburgh police and the U.S. Marshals Western Pennsylvania Fugitive Task Force said they arrested Sudduth-Jones without incident in Wilkinsburg.