ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A man accused of shooting another man to death in Bellaire on April 27 will go before a grand jury and is jailed in lieu of $1 million bond.

Brian Alexis Nolin Melott, 21, appeared before Belmont County Eastern Division Judge David Trouten for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday. Melott is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 19-year-old David Allen, which occurred at the Francis Wallace Apartments on 41st Street in Bellaire.

There was a heavy police presence in the courtroom Tuesday with six sheriff’s deputies on hand during the proceeding. At least a dozen members of the public — some of whom became emotional and cried during the hearing — made up the audience. Melott and his three defense attorneys from Cross Law Office LLC attended the hearing in person. Melott wore an orange jumpsuit issued by the Belmont County Jail, where he has been lodged since the night of the shooting.

Assistant Prosecutor Joe Rine called two witnesses on behalf of the state: Shadyside Police Officer Sabin Ward and Bellaire Police Chief John J. Watson, both of whom were at the scene on the night of the deadly confrontation.

Ward testified that he was patrolling in the village of Bellaire looking for a male who allegedly had taken a purse from the Kroger store when he heard two gunshots while in the area of the Circle K store. Belmont County dispatchers then alerted officers to reports of shots fired in Bellaire, pointing them to Trumbull street. Ward said, however, that the sound of shots did not come from that direction, so he instead traveled to the apartment complex and found a male with a firearm.

According to Ward, people yelled out, “He’s not the shooter,” as he approached the armed man. He said the man was not Melott, the suspect, but that he was a resident who had detained Melott. He said the man had the firearm up in the air, not pointed at anyone, and that he was compliant with Ward’s orders.

Ward said he turned to his left and saw Melott, describing him as having red hair and wearing a blue shirt. He testified that he took Melott into custody and placed him in the rear of a Bridgeport Police Department cruiser that had responded to the scene. He said he took possession of the firearm — identified as a 45-caliber Glock — and placed it in the back of his own cruiser for safety.

Ward testified that as he was working to establish the identity of the suspect, Melott voluntarily told him, “I’m not guilty. It was self-defense.”

During his testimony, Ward acknowledged that he did not have body camera footage of the events that occurred. He said the camera he was wearing had died.

Ward said he then began to look for the victim. He said someone yelled that he was in Apartment 14. Ward said he entered that apartment and began to render aid to Allen along with five or six other law enforcement officers until a Neffs emergency medical squad arrived. He estimated that about 100 people had gathered in the area by that time.

Ward described the victim as lying on the floor of the apartment wearing black shorts and white shoes with no shirt. He said the man had a “bullet wound through-and-through” in the “dead center” of his chest. He said he attempted to pack the wound from the back to stem the bleeding and attempted CPR. He said at no point was the victim responsive. After medical personnel arrived, they took over treatment and placed Allen on a stretcher in their ambulance, Ward said, noting that he then began to tape off the crime scene, take photos and collect evidence.

Defense attorney Beau Cross performed cross examination of the witnesses. He asked Ward about specific locations of a blood trail, shell casings and other evidence recovered from the scene. In response to his queries, Ward said he did not Mirandize Melott at the scene because he was not questioning him at the time.

Watson testified that he was at home when the shooting occurred that Saturday night. After he was contacted about the incident, he said he got dressed and went directly to the scene, which resulted in him not wearing a body camera. He said he arrived as Allen was being removed from Apartment 14 by the Neffs medical crew, estimating that was about 15 minutes after the shooting occurred.

Watson described the collection of evidence, noting that one shell casing was found outside Apartment 17 while the other was located around the side of the building, where he said Melott allegedly ran after the shooting occurred. Officers also collected two cellphones, a black hoodie and a black T-shirt from the “common area” or grassy lawn outside of the apartments. He said multiple witness statements were taken that night with additional interviews performed in the following days.

According to Watson, he verbally Mirandized Melott at the scene and, after Melott was taken to Bellaire police headquarters, gave him a form advising him of his rights before he was interviewed.

Watson said the Neffs squad reported at 10:05 p.m. that personnel had stopped providing medical care for Allen and had contacted the Belmont County coroner.

According to Watson’s testimony, Melott was then placed under arrest and, during questioning, allegedly said there had been arguments between himself and Allen and groups of their friends throughout the day. These conflicts allegedly occurred at Melott’s Noble Street residence, at a playground and near Chirp’s Auto Body Repair, located on Harrison Street.

Melott allegedly told investigators that Allen had run up to him near the entrance of Apartment 17 with his hands in his pockets, “flexed” and took his hoodie off. Melott allegedly told investigators he thought Allen was going to hit him, prompting Melott to allegedly fire a shot. Watson said officers were able to determine the T-shirt, hoodie and cellphones did belong to Allen. The shirts showed no sign of a gunshot.

“Mr. Melott did admit to being the guy who pulled the trigger,” Watson testified. “Mr. Melott stated that he shot from his hip, and he shot him, David Allen, in David Allen’s side. At that point in time he was advised, no, there was a single gunshot wound directly center mass. …

“I asked Mr. Melott when I was talking to him during the interview if Mr. Allen had a weapon. … He said, ‘No, he did not have a weapon.'”

Watson also described a gray “sling bag” that was recovered from the crime scene, noting that Melott allegedly said he used the bag to carry his gun.

Under cross examination, Watson agreed with Cross that the area where the shooting allegedly occurred was a “tight space” for two adults to occupy. He also testified that the investigation revealed that threats had been made throughout the day of the shooting by parties on both sides of the apparent dispute.

In summarizing the day’s testimony near the conclusion of the hearing, Cross told Trouten he did not believe the state had established the elements necessary to bind his client over to the common pleas court level on a voluntary manslaughter charge.

“It’s undisputed that Mr. Melott in fact pulled the trigger. However, Your Honor … there was some sort of dispute leading up to this incident. Given that the charge before the court is voluntary manslaughter … I would certainly urge the court to consider that in the close proximity which we have here that Mr. Melott was in fact acting in self-defense, Your Honor.”

Trouten ruled that the state had met its burden of proof and that Melott would be bound over to common pleas court and a grand jury. He said Melott’s bond would remain set at $1 million.