Motel owner shot, killed over $5 pool pass

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CONNECTICUT - A Connecticut motel owner was shot and killed after an argument over the price of a pass to use the motel's swimming pool on a hot summer day.

Zeshan Chaudhry, 30, of Vernon, was shot Sunday at 3:50 p.m. near the pool at the Motel 6 on Hartford Turnpike Vernon after demanding $10 for a pool pass, police said.

The suspect, Alvin Waugh, 31, of Hartford, and his girlfriend had offered $5. 

"Mr. Chaudhry did not take the money," police Sgt. Robert Marra told The Hartford Courant. "There was a verbal argument that ensued after that."

As the woman walked away, Chaudhry followed her into a hallway. The woman then went outside where she and Waugh had been hanging out. 

The couple and a third person continued to argue with Chaudhry. According to the Courant, Chaudhry believed they had already been given the $5 deal in the past, and he wanted to know who it was "so he could fire them."

Chaudhry told Waugh, who had been at the motel with a friend for about a month, to leave, police said. 

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But he instead went upstairs, retrieved a gun and came back down, Marra said.

"It sounds like the victim began to antagonize him," Marra told the newspaper. "I don’t know if he knew that he had a gun."

Chaudry was shot several times and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

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Waugh ran into some nearby woods, but surrendered to police after being contacted on his cellphone.

He was being held in lieu of $2 million after his arraignment in Superior Court Monday on charges including murder, criminal use of a weapon, use of a firearm for a felony, carrying a firearm without a permit, tampering with physical evidence, reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a minor because children were nearby when he opened fire.

Temperatures in the area hovered near 90 degrees on Sunday.