An argument inside a Birmingham lounge left one man dead and another in police custody.

South Precinct officers were dispatched at 2:45 a.m. Sunday to Mel’s Place at 3921 Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard North on a report of a person shot.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said police went inside the lounge and found the victim wounded. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced him dead on the scene.

The preliminary investigation indicates the two men were involved in a verbal altercation before the shots rang out.

Fitzgerald said it appears the lounge was in the process of closing when the shooting happened, but there were still people present.

The suspect ran away on foot, but responding patrol officers were able to quickly capture him.

The suspect was taken to Birmingham police headquarters for questioning, and then will be placed in the city jail on a 48-hour hold while the investigation continues.

Once complete, detectives will present the case to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office for consideration of criminal charges.

The victim is Birmingham’s 126th homicide of 2023. Of those, one was an officer-involved shooting by an outside law enforcement agency and eight others have been ruled justified.

In all of Jefferson County, there have been 175 homicides, including the 126 in Birmingham.