Ja’Quan Dontremique Green was convicted of killing 23-year-old Britrain Gray through a Gambrills restaurant’s drive-thru window in 2022.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland man has been sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years for the 2022 shooting death of a 23-year-old McDonald’s employee who was working an overnight shift at a restaurant in Gambrills.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Morris sentenced Ja’Quan Dontremique Green, 25, of Middle River, after a jury convicted him Jan. 21 of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a crime of violence in the death of Britrain Marcelus Gray. Morris did not impose life without the possibility of parole, leaving open the possibility that Green could eventually be released. The sentence came more than four years after Gray was killed while working at the restaurant’s drive-thru.
Anne Arundel County police were called at about 4:45 a.m. May 13, 2022, to the McDonald’s at 1130 Crain Highway South in Gambrills after receiving a report that an employee had been shot. Officers found Gray, an Odenton resident, inside the restaurant’s cash booth area with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy performed the following day determined that Gray died from a gunshot wound and classified his death as a homicide.
Investigators relied on surveillance video and ballistic evidence as they built the case. Prosecutors said video showed a black sedan without a visible license plate and with darkened windows moving around the outside of the McDonald’s. A person then parked the car, walked to the drive-thru window and fired three shots from a 9 mm handgun at close range while Gray was working inside. The shooter returned to the vehicle and left. State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said Gray had been building Happy Meal boxes during his overnight shift when he was killed.
Investigators also examined the shooter’s clothing and the vehicle captured on surveillance video. Prosecutors said the person recorded at the restaurant wore a dark jacket with a fur-lined hood, boots with fur trim and distinctive gloves. An analysis of Green’s social media accounts showed him with a vehicle and clothing that investigators said resembled what appeared in the surveillance footage. Authorities later searched Green’s residence and recovered boots, gloves and a jacket that prosecutors said appeared similar to the items worn by the shooter.
Green was arrested July 7, 2022, in Prince George’s County in connection with an unrelated offense. Authorities said he was driving a black 2001 Cadillac Catera and had a handgun in his possession. The firearm was seized and examined by the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Firearms Examination Unit. Prosecutors said testing concluded the handgun was consistent with having fired the three 9 mm cartridge casings recovered outside the McDonald’s drive-thru window. Investigators also said Green’s Cadillac had a decal that corresponded with one visible on the vehicle recorded at the restaurant.
A jury convicted Green after a trial in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. Leitess said after the sentencing that Gray’s family had endured years of court proceedings and exposure to evidence surrounding his death. She described the killing as senseless and said she hoped the sentence would bring Gray’s relatives some measure of peace. Assistant State’s Attorneys Glen Neubauer and Murphy Hartford prosecuted the case, and Detective Juan Honesto of the Anne Arundel County Police Department’s Homicide Unit led the investigation.
Reports from the sentencing hearing said prosecutors discussed a possible connection between the killing and a social media video involving one of Gray’s relatives, but authorities have not established a definitive motive for why Gray was targeted. Green continued to deny responsibility at sentencing. The jury’s first-degree murder conviction, however, established his criminal responsibility for Gray’s killing, and Morris imposed the life sentence plus an additional 20 years for the firearm offense.
The sentencing concludes the trial-level proceedings that followed Gray’s May 2022 killing, though Green retains whatever appellate and post-conviction rights are available under Maryland law. Under the sentence imposed by Morris, he faces life imprisonment plus 20 years, with the possibility of eventual parole left open.
Author note: Last updated September 27, 2026.