A Maryland man convicted of killing a McDonald’s employee during an overnight shift in Gambrills has been sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years, more than four years after the shooting.
Ja’Quan Dontremique Green, 25, of Middle River, received the sentence Wednesday, Sept. 23, in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court for the 2022 killing of 23-year-old Britrain Marcelus Gray. A jury found Green guilty of first-degree murder and using a firearm during a crime of violence on Jan. 21, 2026.
Gray was working at the McDonald’s at 1130 Crain Highway South in Gambrills shortly before 5 a.m. on May 13, 2022. He was inside the restaurant’s cash booth area when a gunman approached the drive-thru window and opened fire.
Investigators said surveillance footage showed a black sedan with no visible license plate and darkened windows moving around the restaurant before stopping. A man then got out, walked toward the drive-thru window and fired three shots from a 9mm handgun at close range before running back toward the vehicle.
Officers found Gray suffering from a gunshot wound inside the restaurant. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy the following day determined that he died from a gunshot wound and ruled the death a homicide.
The investigation eventually connected Green to several pieces of evidence from the scene and surrounding investigation.
Police identified a black 2001 Cadillac Catera associated with Green as matching the vehicle seen in the surveillance footage. Investigators also noted a distinctive decal on the Cadillac that corresponded with one visible on the vehicle captured outside the restaurant.
Green was arrested on unrelated charges in Prince George’s County on July 7, 2022. At the time, authorities said he was driving the Cadillac and had a handgun in his possession. Firearms testing later determined that the handgun was consistent with having fired the three 9mm shell casings recovered near the McDonald’s drive-thru window.
Investigators also examined Green’s social media accounts and found images showing clothing that prosecutors said was similar to what the shooter was wearing. A search of his bedroom later uncovered clothing items, including boots, gloves and a jacket, that investigators said were similar to those seen in the surveillance footage.
The evidence presented during the case helped prosecutors establish their case against Green, leading to his first-degree murder conviction earlier this year.
A clear motive for the shooting has not been established publicly. During the sentencing proceedings, prosecutors indicated that Gray may have been connected to a social media video that allegedly mocked someone Green knew or the neighborhood where Green lived. The circumstances surrounding the possible motive remained less clear than the evidence linking Green to the shooting.
Green continued to maintain his innocence during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing. His defense also asked the court to leave open the possibility of parole.
Judge Elizabeth Morris sentenced Green to life in a state correctional facility followed by an additional 20 years. The sentence did not rule out the possibility of parole in the future.
The case brings a four-year investigation and court process to a close for Gray’s family. Gray had been working an overnight shift when he was killed inside the restaurant, turning an otherwise routine early-morning work shift into a fatal shooting.
State officials said Gray’s family had endured the painful evidence presented during the prosecution and expressed hope that the sentence would provide some measure of closure.
Green’s conviction and sentence are tied to the May 2022 shooting at the Gambrills McDonald’s, where Gray lost his life while working inside the restaurant.
