A Los Angeles man was in custody in Las Vegas on suspicion of fatally shooting another man at a Hollywood nightclub.
Robert Earl Thomas III, 22, was charged with murdering 19-year-old Andre Lowe, who was gunned down about 2 a.m. Sunday outside the Empire Club at 1716 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
Thomas was taken into custody and legal proceedings were pending to return him to Los Angeles, said Richard French of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The shooting occurred after a fight inside the nightclub spilled outside. A woman who was crossing the street near the club was slightly grazed by a bullet, but did not require hospital treatment, said LAPD Sgt. Mark Ro of the Hollywood Station.
A 2011 graduate of Etiwanda High School, Lowe lived in South Los Angeles with his father and was not affiliated with a gang. According to his family, the 19-year-old had just recently passed the test to receive his security guard card and was looking forward to getting his first job.
Family, friends, community activists and a coalition of clergy held a candlelight vigil in remembrance of Lowe outside of the nightclub in Hollywood.
In addition to the vigil, family and friends made a plea for stricter gun control laws.
Video of the shooting was captured and
Andre’s family, meanwhile, is devastated, and having video of Andre’s murder online, replete with nearly 1,000 comments from TMZ users, “makes grieving in peace practically impossible,” according to Jason Andrews, Lowe’s uncle.
After days of desperately trying to get TMZ to take down the footage Andrews launched a Change.org petition begging TMZ to remove the video and apologize to his family. “These people have no regard for the loved ones affected by this tragedy,” said Andrews. “I understand freedom of press but the line has to be drawn somewhere… What they did is wrong and they need to be held accountable. No one wants to see their loved one in this position, having this event viewed by millions of strangers is disgusting.”
The petition can be seen at www.change.org/petitions/tmz-remove-the-video-of-my-nephew-being-murdered.
City News Service contributed to this article.
