Fugitive Wanted in Hookah Lounge Death Arrested in Arizona

Neil Downey's arrest marks the fourth in connection with the death of Rodney Harmon

U.S. Marshals tracked a fugitive wanted in a deadly hookah lounge shooting to Arizona and took him into custody, officials announced Friday.

Neil Downey, 26, had a $2 million warrant out for his arrest in the death of Rodney Harmon, who was fatally shot at the Crown Hookah Lounge in San Diego last year.

After police announced they were looking for Downey, a tip in August led them to believe the suspect may be living in the Phoenix or Mesa areas.

Since then, members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force identified multiple places where Downey could be living. They ultimately found him Thursday in Phoenix.

Marshals positively identified him as he left a home near 21st Avenue and Turney Street. They closed in, made contact with Downey and arrested him without incident, officials say. He has been booked into an Arizona jail as he awaits extradition to San Diego.

Downey’s is the fourth arrest made in Harmon’s death. Police say last November, Harmon was at the hookah lounge just after 4 a.m. when those inside heard loud banging on the door.

When Harmon got up to answer it, he was shot several times in the chest and collapsed in the nearby alley. He died a short time later.

Other suspects arrested in the shooting include Pierre Verenee Readus, 28; Carl Antuan Martin, 33; and Nicholas Edward Davis, 24.
 

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