Getaway Driver Sentenced in Rodgers Forge Shooting

A Baltimore County judge on Wednesday sentenced a teen to 25 years in prison for his role in the 2024 attempted carjacking and shooting of a Rodgers Forge man — a daytime attack in a neighborhood widely regarded as safe.

“Regardless of what neighborhood this took place in … you should have the right to stand in your backyard of the home where you are raising three children and have an absolute sense of safety,” Assistant State’s Attorney Matt Darnbrough said.

The sentence, handed down by Judge Robert Cahill, exceeds state guidelines by 10 years and is longer than what prosecutors had requested.

“This is a horrible case,” Cahill said as he announced the sentence for 18-year-old Kamar Thompson. “It is a case I do not believe guidelines can accurately assess … I’m going to exceed the guidelines in this case.”

Police say Thompson drove the getaway car after his accomplice, Kai Wilson, shot and critically injured Mark McKenzie on Sept. 13, 2024, in an alley on the 400 block of Dunkirk Road.

The shooting happened in a rowhome neighborhood just north of the city known for its close-knit community and relatively low levels of crime.

Cahill pointed to Thompson’s “horrible, abysmal” juvenile record, which included assaults, burglaries and repeated elopements from foster care. In one instance, prosecutors said, Thompson fled foster care by stealing his group home’s van. He had also cut off his ankle monitor months before the Rodgers Forge shooting and was stabbed multiple times in 2024.

“I do believe that the Department of Juvenile Justice Services bent over backward in terms of trying to rehabilitate this young man … it simply just did not take,” Cahill said.

Thompson, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, was convicted of attempted armed robbery and a firearm offense after entering an Alford plea in April, acknowledging there was likely sufficient evidence to convict him but not admitting responsibility. Courts treat Alford pleas the same as guilty pleas for sentencing purposes.

Thompson’s public defender, Alexandria Chun, said Thompson was not the driver but had been a passenger in the car. She said Thompson — whose mother was 15 when he was born and 23 when she died — had a troubled, traumatic childhood and endured bullying, mental health issues and unstable housing.

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

She asked Cahill to consider a lighter sentence than the 15 years the state had requested. She also requested he be recommend to the Patuxent Institute, which has specialized programs for youth offenders.

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

Thompson did not address the court but wrote a letter to the judge explaining his version of events. The letter was not read aloud in court.

On the day of the shooting, McKenzie — a youth sports coach and father of three — was taking soccer balls out of the back of his car around 11:30 a.m. when a masked gunman approached him from behind, put a gun to his head and said, “You know what this is.”

Security video showed the two struggling briefly before the gunman fired a shot as he fled, striking McKenzie in the abdomen. The gunman escaped in a white Kia Sportage that had been stolen earlier in the day, police said. Later video showed the two using bleach to clean the car near Wilson’s home on Kenwood Avenue in the city.

When 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 actual operating table,” Darnbrough said.

In a victim impact statement, McKenzie told the court that he had recently left his job in hospice care in part to help his ailing father get to chemotherapy treatments scheduled to begin the following week.

“I never made it to any of his treatments over the next several weeks because I was fighting for my own life at Hopkins,” he said.

Darnbrough said EMTs took McKenzie to Johns Hopkins’ main campus instead of Shock Trauma because they were unsure he would survive the longer trip. A surgeon specializing in liver trauma helped save his life, he said.

“I’m only alive because Johns Hopkins brought me back to life after I coded,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie endured multiple surgeries, 12 days on life support and two months of hospitalization. He said he also racked up more than $500,000 in medical bills.

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, he imposed a 20-year sentence, suspending all but five years. The sentences will run consecutively. Thompson will be on five years’ probation upon his release.

Cahill also agreed to recommend Thompson to the Patuxent Institution, a treatment-oriented maximum-security correctional facility.

“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 Alford plea and is scheduled to be sentenced July 13. Prosecutors are recommending a 40-year sentence, suspending all but 25 years.