Attempted Murder Defendant Receives Sentence in Business Dispute Turned Violent

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On Oct. 13, Judge La Zette Ringgold-Kirksey sentenced an attempted murder defendant to 30 years in prison for a 2021 non-fatal shooting in a supermarket parking lot.

After negotiations between the defense counsel and prosecutors, defendant Ronald Green accepted a plea agreement Oct. 13 for 30 years, suspending all but 10 years in prison for attempted second-degree murder. Green was also sentenced to 15 years, suspending all but 5 years for firearm use during a felony violent crime. The firearm charge is slated to run concurrent to the attempted murder charge. Once released Green will serve four years on supervised probation.

According to the prosecutor, the victim, who was present for sentencing, approved of the agreement. In addition to a no-contact order for the victim and his family, Green, 38, had to register as a gun offender in the city of Baltimore.

The prosecutor stated that when law enforcement arrived at the scene of the crime, the 23-year-old victim was suffering from a bullet-graze wound to the back of his head. The victim informed officers that Green, who he knew as “Bam,” was a friendly acquaintance and former neighbor of his and had suddenly shot him during a verbal dispute.

The two men, who both worked as “hack drivers,” had been engaging in a mundane argument that morning in front of the Save-A-Lot grocery store over poaching customers. Green, who allegedly fled the scene in a white Acura, was later identified as the shooter by the victim.

Though both Green and the victim declined to make statements to the court, the prosecutor said he offered the plea deal because he had hope for Green’s future. “This is what happens when people carry guns,” he stated. “A normal dispute between friends can turn violent.”