Suspect in 21-Year-Old’s Murder at Philly Bar Nabbed After Apparently Trying to Flee
‘RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE’
A man accused of opening fire into a Philadelphia bar and killing a 21-year-old woman last week has been arrested at a casino in Atlantic City, authorities said. U.S. Marshals tracked down Anthony Nelson, 47, at Harrah’s Casino just over a week after police say he fired more than a dozen shots into the Philly Bar & Restaurant after being kicked out by staff. Jailene Holton, who was in the back of the bar with friends after reluctantly agreeing to be their designated driver, was struck in the head by one of the bullets and killed. “This was an unnecessary random act of violence,” Supervisory Deputy Marshal Robert Clark said in announcing Nelson’s arrest Wednesday, according to 6abc Action News. He said Nelson likely knew he was being sought for murder charges during his out-of-state casino outing and investigators believed he was hiding out at the hotel casino. “Once he realized we were there and weren’t going away, we were able to get him into custody safely without anybody getting hurt,” Clark said. Murder charges are expected to be filed against Nelson after he is extradited back to Philadelphia. News of his arrest came just hours before Holton’s funeral was set to begin Thursday. “We are happy he was caught.… He took a big part of my heart,” Holton’s grandmother, Karen McConnell, told the Philadelphia Inquirer.