WARREN TWP., Ohio - An unsolved murder at a Warren Township bar is at the center of a $4.5 million wrongful death suit filed against the bar's owners and its security provider.

An Akron woman administering the estate of James Dotson filed a civil lawsuit in Trumbull County Court alleging that Dotson was shot outside the J&L Lounge on Highland Avenue on April 4, 2016, after the bar's security guard refused to let Dotson seek safety from assailants.

The suit, filed on Wednesday, says Dotson sought refuge in the bar after being attacked by unknown people in the parking lot early that morning but was denied entry into the bar in spite of pleas that his life was in danger.

Dotson, 33, had been attending a birthday party at the bar.

The lawsuit doesn't name the owners or the bar, the security guard or the company he worked for. The unknown suspects in the shooting are also named as defendants.

The complaint asks for $1.5 million in compensatory damages and another $3 million in punitive damages.