On the cold evening of February 24, 2017, Michael Watkins, a 26-year-old Black male, was found lying on Berkshire Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency responders arrived just before 10 p.m. and discovered he had been shot in the head. Watkins was rushed to Bridgeport Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. His death marked the city's fourth homicide of the year and the second on that day alone.
Those who knew him remembered the Central High School attendee and Stop & Shop employee as a caring and humble person.
The investigation into the shooting revealed a drug transaction that had turned deadly. Watkins had arranged to sell several pounds of marijuana to a man named Willard Hargrove. He got into the front passenger seat of Hargrove's car, where another man, 26-year-old Jovanne Brown, was hiding in the back seat. During the course of the planned robbery, Brown shot Watkins four times in the back and once in the side. After the shooting, Watkins' body was pushed out of the vehicle and left on the street.
Shortly after Watkins was found, Jovanne Brown arrived at a different hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the chest. Investigators determined that Watkins, who had a pistol permit, had fired at Brown during the altercation. Initially, Brown lied to detectives about how he sustained his injury but later confessed to shooting Watkins. He claimed it was in self-defense after Watkins allegedly shot him first.
Police arrested Jovanne Brown the day after the shooting and charged him with felony murder, robbery, and weapons offenses. In March 2017, authorities identified 27-year-old Willard Hargrove as a person of interest in the case. In November 2019, Brown was convicted of felony murder and possession of a pistol without a permit and was subsequently sentenced to 40 years in prison. In February 2020, just as his trial for felony murder was set to begin, Willard Hargrove, then 30, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, theft of a firearm, and hindering prosecution. He faced a sentence of 15 years in prison for his role in planning the robbery that led to Michael Watkins' death.
