Police said a 28-year-old man from Trenton, New Jersey shot a fellow customer who was helping to break up a fight at a Morrsville strip club earlier this year. He’s now being charged with homicide.
Bucks County detectives have filed a warrant for Pedro E. Rodriguez, charging him in the Aug. 28 death of Mekhi Norman.
The two men didn’t know each other, police said. Norman was shot in the back of the head, left thigh and both armpits.
More Bucks County News PETA asks Bucks County DA to charge jockey who whipped horse after Parx race in Bensalem
It wasn’t immediately known Wednesday when Norman died, but according to gunaccidentjournal.net, he died of his injuries in September.
Rodriguez is scheduled to be arraigned on the homicide charge Friday before District Judge Carryn Kronnagel, according to the docket.
Rodriguez was initially charged in August with attempted homicide and related charges, including 17 misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment. He remains incarcerated in Bucks County Correctional Center in lieu of $5 million bail.
Bucks County detectives said the shooting occurred shortly after 1 a.m. at The Border Gentlemen’s Club in the 400 block of South Pennsylvania Avenue.
Witnesses and bar surveillance video showed Rodriguez and a friend drinking alcohol and engaging with bar staff earlier in the night. The club owner allegedly spoke to the men several times because of their loud rowdy behavior, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
After the bar owner refused to continue to serve drinks to Rodriguez and his friend, who was not identified, Rodriguez became upset and announced he was going to his car to grab his gun. The affidavit said he started walking toward the bar exit.
The owner followed Rodriguez, but then Rodriguez’s friend started fighting with the owner and other staff in the doorway. Rodriguez walked out to the parking lot, retrieved his gun and went back to the club, according to the affidavit.
The fight was continuing when Rodriguez reached the doorway, and he allegedly shot another customer, Mekhi Norman, multiple times.
At the time of the shooting, authorities said, there were 17 people inside the bar.
Rodriguez and his friend then fled the shooting scene in a Lexus SUV heading north on Route 1 into Trenton, New Jersey.
Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Border Gentlemen’s Club shooting in Morrisville now a homicide case