MORRISVILLE, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A Trenton man has been sentenced to decades in prison for fatally shooting a Good Samaritan at a Bucks County nightclub nearly two years ago.
It was around 1:15 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2024, that Morrisville police were dispatched to the Border Gentlemen’s Club for a reported shooting. There, officials found 28-year-old Mekhi Norman, shot in the back of the head, his left thigh, and torso.
Norman was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition and died of his injuries on Sept. 6.
According to detectives, Norman was shot by 29-year-old Pedro E. Rodriguez after an altercation broke out at the doorway of the club involving Rodriguez’s 22-year-old nephew, Kevin Perez, whom security staff tried to remove from the club.
Surveillance footage showed Rodriguez walking to his vehicle to grab a handgun, then returning to the club’s entrance and firing into the club.
Officials said Norman was an innocent bystander who attempted to help staff diffuse the situation when he was shot. Rodriguez fled the scene after, but surrendered to police later that day.
There was no relation between Norman and Rodriguez. Seventeen people were inside the club at the time of the incident; no other injuries were reported.
During Rodriguez’s sentencing, Common Pleas Judge Charissa J. Liller said Norman died doing the right thing and called him a hero. He was remembered by his family as a “gentle giant with an enormous smile and personality to match.”
As part of a negotiated sentence, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, possession of an instrument of crime and four counts of recklessly endangering another person as part of a negotiated sentence. He was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in state prison.
His nephew, Perez, was sentenced to 10 to 23 months for assaulting club staff before the fatal shooting.