Retrial in killing of North Hills honors student ends with 1st-degree murder conviction

A jury on Monday found a Pittsburgh man guilty of first-degree murder for killing a North Hills honors student outside his family’s restaurant in the Strip District.

Howard Hawkins, 50, who was also convicted of carrying a firearm without a license, will be sentenced Jan. 30 by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara.

He faces a mandatory penalty of life in prison without parole for killing 18-year-old Ahmir Tuli.

Tuli’s mother, Preeti Tuli, who testified during the trial, said she is grateful for the jury’s decision.

“I wanted to be able to be there for my son and support him and stand up for him, because he deserves justice.

“He didn’t deserve what happened to him.”

Hawkins’ trial began on Oct. 27, and the jury began deliberating Monday morning. The panel was out for less than three hours before reaching its verdict.

Ahmir Tuli was shot and killed the night of Feb. 21, 2021, outside of Preeti’s Pitt in the 2700 block of Penn Avenue.

Tuli, who was working as a line cook at his mother’s restaurant, was outside taking a break after 9 p.m. when police said Hawkins approached him and shot him once in the head.

According to Deputy District Attorney Sarah Weikart, Hawkins had been inside the bar and restaurant that evening when he got into an argument with another customer.

Hawkins was escorted out of the bar at 8:56 p.m., according to security camera footage. He walked to the car he’d arrived in, opened the passenger door, grabbed an object and put it in his pocket.

A minute later, Weikart told the jury in her closings, Hawkins was seen pacing the sidewalk.

At 9:09 p.m., Tuli walked outside and went to his own car, sitting with the door open.

Video from city cameras, the prosecutor continued, showed Hawkins approach the teen and argue before Hawkins shot Tuli.

Hawkins wasn’t arrested in the case until July 2021. He was found by federal marshals in North Hollywood, Calif.

Defense attorney Casey White argued in his closing on Friday that the city’s surveillance footage was taken from so far away that it made it impossible to identify his client.

White also noted witnesses described the shooter as bald with a mustache. But Hawkins, at the time, he continued, had gray dreadlocks and a beard.

White also discounted any motive for the shooting: Tuli had $2,000 on him when he was killed, and there was no evidence to suggest Hawkins had a problem with him.

He urged jurors to use their common sense.

Hawkins’ first trial in the case ended abruptly last year in the middle of testimony when a witness inappropriately referenced the defendant’s criminal record.

Lazzara granted a motion for a mistrial.

After the verdict, Preeti Tuli said she’s been waiting almost five years to get justice for her son.

“Frustrating isn’t even the word for it,” she said. “Now I can finally work on putting my best foot forward and really healing.”