Man Pleads Guilty to Shooting Victim Inside Moving Jeep

OVERLEA — Marshall Alexander stepped outside of his grandmother’s Edgewood home to smoke a cigarette one fall night last year and never returned.

About an hour later, on Oct. 27, 2024, Alexander was found shot in the middle of Belair Road near Madeline Avenue in the Overlea area. He later died at a local hospital.

On Tuesday, Machai “Mack” Horton pleaded guilty in Baltimore County Circuit Court to first-degree murder and a firearms offense. His sentencing is scheduled for February 2026. Judge Wendy Epstein is expected to impose a life sentence with all but 25 years suspended.

Surveillance video from the night 30-year-old Alexander died showed muzzle flashes inside an orange Jeep Renegade just before Alexander fell from the passenger side of the moving vehicle.

Investigators said Horton, 26, of Baltimore City, was driving the Jeep and shot Alexander as Alexander attempted to escape.

Horton shot Alexander over an unpaid drug debt, Assistant State’s Attorney Zarena Sita told Judge Epstein.

Alexander was shot twice from the driver’s side of the vehicle and collapsed onto Belair Road as the Jeep fled onto Madeline Avenue, according to charging documents.

Alexander lay wounded in the middle of the roadway, yelling for help for several minutes, until a passing motorist stopped, Sita said.

He later died at Bayview Hospital from two gunshot wounds — one to the torso and one to the forearm.

Additional surveillance video showed the Jeep near Alexander’s home around 8:30 p.m., parked near his vehicle on Burlington Court. An audio recording captured two male voices, Sita said.

“Two men can be heard arguing, at which time one of the males told the other to ‘get in the f—ing car,’” police wrote in charging documents. The Jeep was seen leaving Burlington Court at 8:40 p.m.

Horton had informally rented the Jeep from an acquaintance three days before the shooting, according to police. He returned the vehicle a few hours after the killing, then forced the acquaintance at gunpoint to drive him and several others home, Sita said.

Investigators later found Horton’s fingerprints inside the Jeep and used cell site data and text messages to link him to the crime, Sita said.

Horton was arrested Dec. 10, 2024, when he appeared in a Baltimore City courtroom on another matter.