BREAKING:Judge Gives Teen 25 Years in Rodgers Forge Shooting, Exceeding Guidelines

A Baltimore County judge on Wednesday sentenced a teen to 25 years in prison for his role in a 2024 attempted carjacking that left a Rodgers Forge man critically wounded, imposing a sentence 10 years above state guidelines and beyond what prosecutors requested.

“This is a horrible case,” Judge Robert Cahill said in Baltimore County Circuit Court. “It is a case I do not believe guidelines can accurately assess. … I’m going to exceed the guidelines in this case.”

Kamar Thompson, now 18, was 16 at the time of the Sept. 13, 2024, shooting. He entered an Alford plea in April to attempted armed robbery and a firearm offense, acknowledging that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to convict him while not admitting guilt. Under Maryland law, an Alford plea is treated the same as a guilty plea for sentencing purposes.

Prosecutors said Thompson drove the getaway car after his accomplice, Kai Wilson, shot and critically injured Mark McKenzie in an alley on the 400 block of Dunkirk Road.

Cahill cited Thompson’s extensive juvenile record in explaining the sentence, calling it “horrible” and “abysmal.” The record includes assaults, burglaries and repeated elopements from foster care, according to prosecutors. In one instance, Assistant State’s Attorney Matt Darnbrough said, Thompson fled a group home by stealing their van. He had also cut off his ankle monitor months before the shooting.

Police said McKenzie, a youth sports coach and father of three, was unloading soccer balls from his car around 11:30 a.m. when a masked gunman approached from behind, pointed a gun at his head and said, “You know what this is.”

Security video showed a brief struggle before the gunman fired a single shot and fled, striking McKenzie in the abdomen.

By the time McKenzie arrived at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he had lost so much blood and his heart rate was so low that surgeons considered him “practically dead on the operating table,” Darnbrough said.

Thompson’s public defender, Alexandria Chun, disputed the state’s account of his role, saying he had been a passenger in the stolen getaway car, not the driver.

She urged Cahill to impose less than the 15-year sentence sought by prosecutors, pointing to Thompson’s upbringing. His mother was 15 when he was born and 23 when she died, Chun said, and he struggled with housing and basic needs.

“He was struggling for food, shelter and clothing,” she said. “He was just kind of in the streets for quite a while.”

“At a certain point, he IS going to come back into the community,” Chun added. “I would want him better instead of worse.”

Cahill sentenced Thompson to 20 years in prison for the firearm charge with no parole possible for the first five years. For the attempted armed robbery charge, the sentence was 20 years in prison with all but five years suspended. Those sentences are to run consecutively. Thompson is to be on five year's probation upon his release.

Cahill also agreed to recommend Thompson to the Patuxent Institute which offers special programs for youthful offenders.

"If there's anything that can be done to rehabilitate this young man, I am happy that program exists," Cahill said. "

Wilson, the alleged shooter, has also entered an Aflord plea and is scheduled to be sentenced July 13. The state’s attorney is recommending a sentence of 40 years, suspending all but 25 years.