On Friday, a Chicago man who shot two pals in the head and injured two more during a 2018 birthday celebration on Michigan Avenue in the Loop was given a life sentence plus 20 years in prison.
According to court documents, Marquis Watkins, 46, was found guilty by a Cook County jury in May of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated violence by firing a handgun. Judge Mary Brosnahan imposed his sentence on Friday.
On October 1, 2018, shortly after midnight, Watkins and four lifelong friends were driving a Chrysler 300 along the 500 block of South Michigan Avenue when the shootings took place. Bruce Miller was in the front passenger seat next to Watkins, and the party had come downtown to celebrate his 29th birthday.
Prosecutors claimed that Watkins suddenly started shooting inside the car.
Miller had two gunshot wounds to the head. The 31-year-old Steve Nixon, who was occupying the center-rear seat behind Watkins, was also shot in the head. At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, both guys passed away.
Watkins’ half-brothers, two additional passengers, both 29 years old, were shot in the shoulder. Before discovering he had been struck, one of them, who was sitting in the back, told investigators he had seen muzzle flashes coming from Watkins’ direction.
Following the gunshot, the vehicle lost control, collided with a planter box, and overturned onto its roof. Watkins got out of the wreckage with one of his injured half-brothers. In need of assistance, that man ran into the Congress Hotel.
Watkins, the only passenger in the car who was unshot, then admitted to shooting the gun in a filmed interview, according to the prosecution. Prior to the incident, Wtkins had no criminal history, was a married father of three, and owned a house in Brainerd.
