A 25-year-old Maryland man now faces the prospect of spending the remainder of his life behind bars for fatally shooting a McDonald’s employee through the restaurant’s drive-thru window as the victim assembled Happy Meal boxes. On Wednesday, Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Elizabeth S. Morris sentenced Ja’Quan Dontremique Green to life imprisonment in a state correctional facility, plus an additional 20 years, for the 2022 killing of 23-year-old Britrain Marcelus Gray, authorities confirmed.
Morris, who left open the possibility of parole at a later date, delivered the sentence after a jury returned guilty verdicts in January on one count of first-degree murder and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime.
“This senseless violence stole a young man’s life while he was working the overnight shift at the drive-through window,” State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess stated. “Though nothing can undo this tragedy, I hope this sentence brings some measure of peace and closure to Britrain’s family, many of whom endured seeing the horrific evidence of their brother gunned down while he was building Happy Meal boxes for kids.”
Gray worked at the McDonald’s located in the 1100 block of Crain Highway South. Shortly before 5 a.m. on May 13, 2022, an individual approached the drive-thru window and opened fire, striking Gray, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
When first responders arrived at the scene, they discovered Gray inside the restaurant’s cash booth area suffering from a gunshot wound. Medical personnel pronounced him dead at the location.
Detectives connected Green to the shooting through ballistic evidence and surveillance footage.
“Upon reviewing the surveillance video, detectives observed a black sedan pull around the exterior of the McDonald’s, with no tag and blacked-out windows,” prosecutors detailed. “A short time later, investigators observed a suspect park the car and walk up to the McDonald’s drive-thru window where he then fired three shots from a nine mm handgun at close range as the victim was working inside. The suspect then fled on foot back to his vehicle.”
Law enforcement took Green into custody on July 7, 2022, on unrelated charges and seized a handgun from his vehicle, a black 2001 Cadillac Catera.
Firearms examiners concluded the handgun matched the three 9 mm shell casings collected outside the McDonald’s drive-thru window, prosecutors reported. Investigators also identified a decal on Green’s Cadillac that corresponded with a decal visible on the vehicle captured by surveillance cameras at the restaurant.
Green’s social media accounts displayed him wearing clothing consistent with what the shooter wore, including boots and a jacket lined with fur. A subsequent search of his bedroom uncovered matching items of clothing.
During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors provided minimal explanation for why Green targeted Gray. Assistant State’s Attorney Glen Neubauer stated that either no motive existed or the motive was “flat-out stupid,” according to The Baltimore Banner.
Neubauer indicated that Gray may have appeared in a social media video, recorded by a relative, that mocked someone Green knew or the neighborhood where Green resided.
Green asserted his innocence at the sentencing, with his attorney reportedly requesting that the court extend him an opportunity for parole.
“Respectfully, I cannot take responsibility for something I did not do,” Green declared.
Morris granted Green’s request, reportedly characterizing life without parole as “essentially a death sentence” and noting that Green was “a child” when the killing occurred.
Leave a Reply