Denver police have arrested a suspect in the shooting that killed Tyrone Adair Jr. -- aka rapper Boss Goodie -- outside Cold Crush in October.
Harold Mortis, 27, was arrested on Dec. 1 after police matched his DNA to evidence from the scene, according to an arrest affidavit provided to Denverite. He is being held without bail at the downtown Denver jail.
At the time of the shooting, witnesses told police that security removed two men from Cold Crush for fighting. One of them was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat. The other wore a hat with a B on it.
The latter was left at the scene and DNA on it was matched to Mortis, who was in the system for an aggravated robbery arrest, according to police.
During a Nov. 21 search of Mortis' home, police found .40-caliber live ammunition. The caliber and brand matched the spent casings found at the crime scene, according to the affidavit.
A witness also identified Mortis as the shooter during a Dec. 2 interview, police said. According to that person's account, both Adair and Mortis threw punches, but the person didn't know who swung first. After being taken outside by security, Mortis went to his car, then started walking back toward the bar. At that point, the witness saw Mortis shooting and heard four to six gunshots, according to the affidavit.
According to the arrest affidavit, Adair was shot once in the head.
No court date has been set for Mortis, who is being charged with one count of first degree murder and one count of possession of a weapon by a previous offender.
Cold Crush was identified as a public nuisance and effectively shut down when it had its liquor and cabaret license revoked after Adair's murder. It was the second shooting outside the bar at 27th and Larimer streets in a little more than two years. Denverite looked at crime statistics for Cold Crush and other downtown bars at the time and found that Cold Crush didn’t have an unusual number of violent crimes compared to other bars, but did seem to attract more attention from police.
The bar re-opened on Oct. 20 after agreeing to 10 conditions in order to get its license back.
