Police lights. Read more Houston Harwood / USA TODAY NETW

by Jesse Bunch Published Oct. 13, 2025, 1:40 p.m. ET

A security guard who shot a patron at a Center City IHOP restaurant this weekend has been charged with murder and related crimes, police said Monday.

Yahaira Melendez, 39, of Philadelphia, shot a man inside the restaurant on the 1300 block of Walnut Street shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, authorities said. Police did not identify the victim.

Officers were called to the restaurant for a report of a person with a gun and arrived to find a 43-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead a short time later.

Authorities said Monday that the man had caused a disturbance and was being escorted outside the restaurant

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