In the early hours of December 27, 2015, a party at an illegal after-hours club in Paterson, New Jersey, turned deadly, leaving two men dead. Fernando Irby, a 24-year-old male, was one of the victims in the shooting that erupted following a dispute at the warehouse on 1st Avenue. The incident occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m., with about 30 people in attendance.
Emergency services were called to the scene after reports of shots fired.
Irby, along with 26-year-old Kashif Belfield, were found wounded and transported to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center. Both men ultimately succumbed to their injuries and were pronounced dead a short time later. It was not immediately clear if Irby and Belfield were directly involved in the argument that led to the shooting. The violent event marked the 17th homicide in Paterson that year.
In the weeks that followed, investigators identified and apprehended two suspects in connection with Irby's death. The first, 32-year-old Jaquan Harrison, was arrested and charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his bail was set at $1 million.
A second suspect, 19-year-old Quincy Franklin, was later apprehended by Paterson police. He was also charged with murder and weapons offenses in relation to the shooting. Franklin's bail was set at $1.2 million. The arrests brought some measure of progress in a case that had cut short the lives of two young men.
