PITTSBURGH — Preeti Tuli only has a few things left now to remember her son.
“This is his heartbeat. His thumbprint. This is a bag of my son’s hair. I pulled it out yesterday for the first time since everything happened,” Tuli said. “They were the only things I walked out of the hospital with after he took his last breath.”
Tuli’s son, Ahmir, was shot and killed outside her Strip District restaurant in February. On Wednesday, Howard Hawkins was arrested outside Hollywood, California. He was wanted in connection with the killing.
“I was happy. I was also very emotional. I couldn’t believe it when it first came through,” Tuli said.
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According to Pittsburgh police, the U.S. Marshals Service was able to track Hawkins down.
Court documents said Hawkins got into an argument inside “Preeti’s Pit,” and security told him to leave. Hawkins came back a short time later and was accused of shooting Ahmir Tuli in the head outside the front door. Police said Hawkins’ girlfriend, Chayla Robinson, was also there that night and drove him away after the shooting. Robinson was arrested last month.
“It still bothers me. Like yeah, he’s locked up. They got him. They arrested him. But that still doesn’t bring my son back. I’ve been sleeping in my son’s bed for the last week. It doesn’t make me feel better when I look around, and he’s not here,” Tuli said.
Hawkins was brought back to the Allegheny County jail Friday afternoon.
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