MORE TONIGHT FROM OUTSIDE THE COURTHOUSE. IN CLOSING ARGUMENTS TODAY, BOTH SIDES ARGUED WHETHER THE MAN SEEN IN SURVEILLANCE VIDEO OUTSIDE OF PRETTY’S PIT IS HAWKINS. NOW, THE VIDEO SHOWS A MAN LEAVE THE BAR AND THEN GO BACK JUST MOMENTS LATER AND FIRE THE SHOT THAT KILLED AMIR TULLEY. HAWKINS DEFENSE ATTORNEY CASEY WHITE, ARGUING HAWKINS WAS NOT THE SHOOTER, SAYING THE INITIAL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SHOOTER WERE BASED ON THIRD PARTY INFORMATION AND THAT THE KEY WITNESS IN THE CASE GAVE CONFLICTING DESCRIPTIONS AND THAT OTHER MEN MATCHING THOSE DESCRIPTIONS WERE IN THE AREA AT THE TIME. BUT HE SAID POLICE ONLY FOCUSED ON HAWKINS DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY SARAH WEIKERT SAID THE SHOOTER WAS HAWKINS. REITERATING TESTIMONY OF HIS PHONE RECORDS INDICATING HIS PHONE WAS OUTSIDE THE BAR AT THE TIME OF THE SHOOTING. THEN HAWKINS PATH AFTER BEING KICKED OUT OF PRETTY’S PIT AND THE PATH OF HIS GIRLFRIEND’S CAR, WHICH IS SEEN PULLING OUT MOMENTS AFTER THE SHOOTING, THEN ON THE SAME PATH AS HAWKINS PHONE MINUTES LATER, JUST BLOCKS AWAY, HAWKINS IS CHARGED WITH CRIMINAL HOMICIDE. THE JURY WILL BEGIN DELIBERATING ON MONDAY. COVERING ALLEGHENY COUNTY TONIGHT I
Jury to begin deliberations in case of 18-year-old killed outside Preeti’s Pitt
Howard Hawkins on trial for the fatal shooting of Ahmir Tuli in Pittsburgh’s Strip District neighborhood
Updated: 7:44 PM EDT Oct 31, 2025
Jurors heard the closing argument on Friday in the trial of Howard Hawkins.This is the second time Hawkins has been tried on homicide charges in the death of 18-year-old Ahmir Tuli. The first trial ended in a mistrial last year.Tuli was shot and killed in February 2021 outside his family’s Strip District restaurant, Preeti’s Pitt.In closing arguments, both sides focused on the shooter’s identity. The district attorney’s office argued that the shooter, captured in blurry surveillance video, couldn’t have been anyone else but Hawkins, while Hawkins’ defense attorney said it was not him, and they accused the wrong person.In that video played for the jurors in court, a man is seen leaving the Penn Avenue restaurant. He walks to a car parked on the street, then immediately back to the bar entrance where Tuli was standing, and shoots him.Deputy District Attorney Sarah Weikart said the shooter was Hawkins and recounted testimony that detailed Hawkins’ path after getting kicked out of the bar as well as the use of his girlfriend’s car. She detailed testimony and video which showed the car driving away from the bar moments after the shooting, then on the same path as Hawkins’ phone minutes later, just blocks away.Defense attorney Casey White argued that the shooter was not Hawkins, saying the initial descriptions of the shooter were based on third-party information, and that a key witness in the case gave conflicting descriptions.White also said other men matching those descriptions were in the area at the time, but police only focused on Hawkins. White concluded that the commonwealth failed to do a full and complete investigation.Hawkins chose not to testify or call character witnesses.Jury deliberations begin on Monday.
PITTSBURGH —
Jurors heard the closing argument on Friday in the trial of Howard Hawkins.
This is the second time Hawkins has been tried on homicide charges in the death of 18-year-old Ahmir Tuli. The first trial ended in a mistrial last year.
Tuli was shot and killed in February 2021 outside his family’s Strip District restaurant, Preeti’s Pitt.
In closing arguments, both sides focused on the shooter’s identity. The district attorney’s office argued that the shooter, captured in blurry surveillance video, couldn’t have been anyone else but Hawkins, while Hawkins’ defense attorney said it was not him, and they accused the wrong person.
In that video played for the jurors in court, a man is seen leaving the Penn Avenue restaurant. He walks to a car parked on the street, then immediately back to the bar entrance where Tuli was standing, and shoots him.
Deputy District Attorney Sarah Weikart said the shooter was Hawkins and recounted testimony that detailed Hawkins’ path after getting kicked out of the bar as well as the use of his girlfriend’s car. She detailed testimony and video which showed the car driving away from the bar moments after the shooting, then on the same path as Hawkins’ phone minutes later, just blocks away.
Defense attorney Casey White argued that the shooter was not Hawkins, saying the initial descriptions of the shooter were based on third-party information, and that a key witness in the case gave conflicting descriptions.
White also said other men matching those descriptions were in the area at the time, but police only focused on Hawkins. White concluded that the commonwealth failed to do a full and complete investigation.
Hawkins chose not to testify or call character witnesses.
Jury deliberations begin on Monday.