In the early morning hours of February 16, 2020, a night out at the Majestic Lounge on Franklin Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut, turned deadly for 28-year-old Marquis Treadwell. An argument inside the club escalated into a burst of violence that left one dead and several others wounded. The confrontation began around 1:20 a.m. between Treadwell and another man, later identified as Joshua Saez.
Surveillance footage showed the two men arguing before another individual attempted to de-escalate the situation. Shortly after, Saez lunged forward, extended a handgun over several people, and fired at Treadwell, who collapsed to the floor. Saez then turned the weapon on a woman standing next to Treadwell, his fiancée, shooting her multiple times. She was critically injured, having been shot nine times, but ultimately survived. In total, five people were shot during the incident.
As chaos erupted in the nightclub, the violence continued to unfold. After being shot, the mortally wounded Treadwell handed a handgun to another man, Carl Jones. As Saez was leaving the bar, Jones pursued him and fired numerous rounds, striking Saez in the neck. Police officers who were stationed outside the club due to previous issues heard the gunfire and rushed inside. Shortly after the shooting, a car crashed into a utility pole about a mile and a half from the lounge; Saez was found in the passenger seat with a gunshot wound.
The investigation led to the swift arrest of Joshua Saez, a 34-year-old from Springfield, Massachusetts. He was charged while still in the hospital recovering from his own gunshot wound. Saez faced charges of murder, first-degree assault, and various firearm offenses. In June 2023, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison followed by 10 years of special parole after accepting a plea bargain. The second shooter, Carl "M.O.B." Jones, a 43-year-old member of the Los Solidos gang, was later arrested and faced federal charges. The incident was described by prosecutors as gang-related. In August 2023, a jury found Jones guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. He was subsequently sentenced in August 2024 to 10 years in prison for the firearm offense connected to the shooting.
