A man who told friends he wanted to celebrate his birthday by killing someone was being sought in the fatal shooting of a man outside a city bar

Associated Press:

Authorities say Arthur L. Tiggs, 26, of Orange, was at the Cave Lounge in Newark early Sunday, drinking with friends to celebrate his birthday. The group stepped outside and Tiggs suddenly said something about wanting to shoot someone simply because it was his birthday, witnesses told police.

He pulled out a gun, walked across the street and, without saying a word, shot Lance Pettiford, 27, once in the head, police said. Pettiford, a Newark man who also had been inside the bar, collapsed as Tiggs ran off.

Authorities said the two men did not know each other and had not argued.

"This victim's life was taken for no reason at all," said Police Director Anthony Ambrose. "What a shame."

On Wednesday, investigators from the Newark Police Department and the Essex County Prosecutor's Office searched an Orange apartment where family members said Tiggs had gone Monday to drop off his 6-year-old daughter. He told relatives he was going south, police said.

Tiggs has one criminal charge on his adult record, authorities said. He was arrested in 2003 by Middlesex County authorities for receiving stolen property and possessing burglary tools, but the case was dismissed a year later.

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