Feds Cold Case: Man, 25, Sentenced In Smokin' Wings Robbery, Shooting

NEW HAVEN, CT —A 25-year-old New Haven man will serve 9 years in federal prison for his role in the April 2015 attempted robbery of a New Haven restaurant, during which he shot an employee, according to the Justice Department.

Treizy Lopez was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to 108 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.

According to Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, court documents and statements made in court, at around 11 p.m. on April 11, 2015, Lopez, Tythrone Ford, and another man entered Smokin’ Wings on Congress Avenue and demanded money at gunpoint.

Lopez shot a female employee in the stomach, Avery said, and Lopez, Ford and an "associate" then fled the restaurant, federal prosecutors said. New Haven police officers found a .22 caliber revolver in a nearby trash can, records show.

Around eight hours before the Smokin’ Wings robbery, prosecutors said, Ford, Lopez, and another man drove together to Bridgeport and, Lopez and the other man "armed with handguns, entered Sapiaos Market in Bridgeport, and demanded money. During that attempted robbery, market owner Jose Salgado was shot and killed, Avery said, as Ford waited in a car outside.

"After the murder," prosecutors said, the three men drove back to New Haven together and hours later, Ford and Lopez "participated in the gunpoint robbery at Smokin’ Wings."

Forensic analysis of the gun found by cops in the trash can, and "projectiles" collected from the scene of both attempted robberies, showed the gun was used in both shootings, federal prosecutors said, adding that DNA collected from the gun revealed that both Lopez and Ford possessed the gun.

Lopez also pleaded guilty to one count of attempted interference with commerce by robbery and awaits sentencing.

Held since his 2019 arrest, Ford pleaded guilty to one count of attempted interference with commerce by robbery and was sentenced in U.S. District Court last March. Following the 110 months he must serve in prison, Ford will have three years of supervised release. He was not charged in relation to the Sapiaos Market robbery.

This matter stemmed from a cold case investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the New Haven Police Department, with the assistance of the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jocelyn C. Kaoutzanis and Nathaniel J. Gentile through the Justice’s Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods program and Project Longevity.

PSN, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts, is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Project Longevity is a comprehensive initiative to reduce gun violence in Connecticut’s major cities. Through Project Longevity, community members and law enforcement directly engage with members of groups that are prone to commit violence and deliver a community message against violence, a law enforcement message about the consequences of further violence and an offer of help for those who want it.