In the summer of 2020, a late-night visit to a Detroit eatery turned tragic for 24-year-old Carnell Watts. On the evening of July 19th, Watts was at A. Eagle's Coney Island on the city's west side when a dispute escalated into deadly violence. A gunman opened fire inside the restaurant, fatally wounding Watts and two other men, 34-year-old Brian Jackson and 20-year-old Courtney Willis, who was reportedly Watts's stepbrother.
A fourth man was also shot but survived his injuries.
The brazen shooting, which sent shockwaves through the community, did not go unsolved for long. Investigators quickly identified a suspect, 25-year-old Mickey Dane Douglas of Detroit. He was taken into custody shortly after the incident. While the exact motive for the shooting remains somewhat unclear, reports suggested that the conflict may have started over a comment made about the suspect's gym shoes, a seemingly trivial matter that spiraled into a fatal encounter.
In the days following the shooting, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office brought a host of charges against Mickey Dane Douglas. These included three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Carnell Watts, Brian Jackson, and Courtney Willis. Additionally, he faced charges of assault with intent to murder for the non-fatal shooting of the fourth victim, along with multiple firearm offenses. Douglas was arraigned and his case proceeded into the court system, with a probable cause conference and preliminary hearing scheduled in the weeks after the tragic event.
