Inset: Ja’Quan Dontremique Green (Prince George’s County Police). Background: The McDonald’s where Green killed an employee in May 2022 (Google Maps).
A Maryland man convicted of killing a McDonald’s employee in a drive-thru shooting could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Prosecutors said he fired through the restaurant window and struck the worker as he assembled Happy Meal boxes.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Elizabeth S. Morris sentenced 25-year-old Ja’Quan Dontremique Green on Wednesday to life in a state correctional facility, followed by an additional 20 years, authorities announced. Green was convicted in the 2022 killing of 23-year-old Britrain Marcelus Gray.
The sentence followed a January jury verdict finding Green guilty of first-degree murder and using a firearm in a crime of violence. Morris did not rule out the possibility that Green could eventually become eligible for parole.
“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 said in a statement. “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 working shortly before 5 a.m. on May 13, 2022, at the McDonald’s in the 1100 block of Crain Highway South when a gunman approached the drive-thru window and opened fire, according to the state’s attorney’s office news release.
First responders found Gray inside the restaurant’s cash-booth area suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators later identified Green as the suspect through a combination of ballistic testing 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 wrote. “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.”
Police arrested Green on July 7, 2022, in connection with unrelated charges. During the arrest, officers recovered a handgun from his black 2001 Cadillac Catera.
Firearms examiners concluded that the weapon was used to fire the three 9 mm shell casings found outside the McDonald’s drive-thru window, prosecutors said. Investigators also discovered a decal on Green’s Cadillac matching one seen on the vehicle recorded by surveillance cameras at the restaurant.
Green’s social media accounts showed him wearing clothing resembling the shooter’s outfit, including fur-lined boots and a fur-lined jacket. A subsequent search of his bedroom uncovered similar clothing.
At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors offered little clarity about why Gray was targeted. Assistant State’s Attorney Glen Neubauer said the shooting may have had no motive—or may have stemmed from one that was “flat-out stupid,” The Baltimore Banner reported.
Neubauer said Gray might have appeared in a social media video made by a relative that mocked someone Green knew or criticized the neighborhood where Green lived.
Green continued to deny responsibility during sentencing. His attorney reportedly urged the court to leave open the possibility of parole.
“Respectfully, I cannot take responsibility for something I did not do,” Green told the judge.
Morris granted Green’s request for the possibility of parole, reportedly describing a life-without-parole sentence as “essentially a death sentence.” She also noted that Green was “a child” when the killing occurred.
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