A 25-year-old Maryland man will likely remain incarcerated for life for fatally shooting a McDonald’s employee through the restaurant’s drive-thru window as the victim assembled Happy Meal boxes.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Elizabeth S. Morris sentenced Ja’Quan Dontremique Green on Wednesday to life in a state correctional facility, followed by an additional 20 years, for the 2022 killing of 23-year-old Britrain Marcelus Gray, officials confirmed.
Morris, who left open the possibility of parole, delivered the sentence after a jury convicted Green in January on charges of first-degree murder and use of 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 was on duty at the McDonald’s located in the 1100 block of Crain Highway South shortly before 5 a.m. on May 13, 2022, when an individual approached the drive-thru window and fired upon him, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
First responders arrived at the McDonald’s and discovered Gray inside the cash booth area suffering from a gunshot wound. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Investigators connected Green to the shooting through ballistic evidence and surveillance video.
“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 officials 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 established that the handgun matched the three 9 mm shell casings collected outside the McDonald’s drive-thru window, prosecutors noted. Detectives also identified a decal on Green’s Cadillac that matched one visible on the vehicle captured by surveillance cameras at the restaurant.
Green’s social media profiles featured him wearing clothing resembling that of the shooter, including fur-lined boots and a jacket. A subsequent search of his bedroom yielded matching items.
At Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors provided minimal explanation for the targeting of Gray. Assistant State’s Attorney Glen Neubauer stated that the motive was either nonexistent or “flat-out stupid,” according to The Baltimore Banner.
Neubauer indicated that Gray may have appeared in a social media video, created by a relative, that mocked someone Green knew or the area where he resided.
Green asserted his innocence at sentencing, with his attorney reportedly requesting that the court afford him an opportunity for parole.
“Respectfully, I cannot take responsibility for something I did not do,” Green declared.
Morris granted Green’s request, characterizing life without parole as “essentially a death sentence” and acknowledging that Green was “a child” at the time of the killing.
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