In the early hours of a Sunday morning in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a night out ended in tragedy for 28-year-old Rashid Little. The young man was at the CRU Lounge, a hookah bar on Highway 69 South, on January 21, 2024, when an altercation with security staff escalated with fatal consequences. Little, who was unarmed, was reportedly beaten by several uniformed security guards for more than two minutes before being dragged outside of the establishment.
Once outside, the violence culminated
when one of the security guards, identified as 35-year-old Arron Dewayne Hill, allegedly shot and killed Little. Following the shooting, Hill fled the scene. An investigation was promptly launched by the Tuscaloosa Police and the Violent Crimes Unit. After conducting interviews with witnesses and reviewing security footage, authorities identified Hill as the shooter. He was located later that morning and taken into custody.
Arron Dewayne Hill has since been charged with murder in connection with the death of Rashid Little. A woman who was with Hill at the time of his arrest, Thyais Walker, was also arrested and charged with illegally possessing a pistol. In the wake of the incident, a petition was started online calling for the shooting to be investigated as a hate crime, alleging that the security guard who shot Little was homophobic. The petition quickly gathered over a thousand signatures. The Tuscaloosa City Council has also considered revoking the business license of the CRU Lounge in light of the violent death that occurred on its premises.
