In the early hours of May 29, 2023, a dispute inside a Waffle House on Fulmer Parkway in Montgomery, Alabama, turned deadly, claiming the life of 22-year-old Rodarius McQueen. The young man, a resident of Phenix City, Alabama, was at the restaurant when another customer, Juqwarn Hartwell, began verbally accosting an employee.
McQueen intervened, stepping up to defend the employee from the belligerent customer. The situation escalated into an argument between McQueen and Hartwell. During the confrontation, Hartwell pulled out a gun and shot McQueen. After the shooting, Hartwell and a relative who was with him fled the scene with their food. Friends and family rushed McQueen to a local hospital, but he succumbed to the life-threatening gunshot wound and was pronounced deceased at 3:47 a.m.
Following an investigation by the Montgomery Police Department, Juqwarn Hartwell was identified as the suspect. In September 2025, a jury found Hartwell guilty of the murder of Rodarius McQueen. According to the Montgomery District Attorney's office, they intended to seek the maximum possible sentence for what they described as a senseless act of violence. The district attorney commended McQueen for his courageous act of defending the employee, stating that he was simply trying to do the right thing when he was killed. Juqwarn Hartwell was scheduled to be sentenced on October 1, 2025.
