Malcolm Isiah Nowlin, 26, was working as a security guard at the Dijlah Restaurant and Hookah Lounge in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood in the early morning hours of October 6, 2024. Just before 4:30 a.m., an argument erupted after a man was denied entry as the establishment was closing. The man returned to his car, retrieved a gun and opened fire. Nowlin was struck and taken to a hospital, where he died of a gunshot wound to the head on October 8, 2024.

Police quickly identified 24-year-old Eric O. Sudduth-Jones II as a suspect after witnesses reported threats and surveillance footage reportedly showed him walking to his car, arming himself and shooting toward the lounge. Investigators recovered 19 spent 9mm shells at the scene; authorities say Sudduth-Jones fled, set his car on fire under a bridge in East Pittsburgh and was arrested on October 14, 2024, in Wilkinsburg. Nowlin, a Duquesne University graduate who hoped to open his own business and enjoyed comedy, is being remembered by family who created the Malcolm Isaiah Nowlin Legacy Foundation and held fundraisers to support his survivors.

If anyone was at Dijlah or Silky’s Pub that night or has information about the shooting, please come forward.