East Germantown security guard charged in fatal shooting of bar manager

A bar manager in East Germantown was shot and killed, and police say the man accused is the bar's own security guard.

The deadly shooting happened at Sharon's Little Spot Bar on the 5600 block of Boyer Street, just before 11 p.m. Monday.

Police say it stemmed from an argument between the 44-year-old manager and the 28-year-old armed security guard, both whom were working at the time of the shooting.

Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said, "The verbal altercation turned into a physical altercation where they were actually physically fighting in a back room of the bar for employees only."

According to police, the dispute quickly escalated with the security guard shooting the manager three times: twice in the torso and once in the leg.

"He was conscious. He was talking. Medics took him to Einstein Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 11:22," said Small.

The security guard remained at the scene after the shooting and was taken into custody. He has been charged with murder and related charges.

Michael Johnson who has worked as a security at the bar for the last three years but was not there at the time of the shooting says he was very surprised to hear the news.

"Yes, very surprised. You know, you try to keep everything calm -- everything peaceful," said Johnson.

He said he doesn't know the security guard personally and that the manager was relatively new. He says he has no idea what the two men were fighting about.

"The whole ordeal is just sad cause now you have another life gone over something that doesn't really matter," said Johnson. "Whatever it was about it's never worth someone losing their life."

Johnson says he is not armed with a gun when he works security at the bar.

When asked if there has ever been problems like this one, Johnson responded, "Not necessarily. Not to this magnitude. Not to this magnitude at all."

Police have not released the names of security guard or bar manager.