In the late afternoon of February 22, 2020, Richard Clarence Ramsay III, a 24-year-old male, was fatally shot in the 200 block of Poplar Avenue in Glen Burnie, Maryland. The incident, which also resulted in the injury of another 26-year-old man, was determined by authorities to be a targeted attack, not a random act of violence. Emergency services responded to a report of the shooting at approximately 4:39 p.m. and found Ramsay suffering from gunshot wounds.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the homicide led authorities to identify Alkein Alphozo Coates, a 22-year-old from Elkridge, as a suspect. Detectives determined that the shooting occurred during an illicit drug transaction. Coates and another male suspect allegedly announced a robbery inside a garage at the Poplar Avenue address, brandished a handgun, and fired, killing Ramsay and injuring the other man before fleeing.
Months after the shooting, on August 13, 2020, authorities arrested Coates. At the time of his arrest for the murder, he was already incarcerated at the Anne Arundel County Ordnance Road Detection Center on an unrelated matter. Coates faced a multitude of charges, including first and second-degree murder, manslaughter, armed robbery, and assault.
While Coates was apprehended, the Anne Arundel County Police continued to seek a second suspect involved in the incident. In September 2022, Alkein Coates entered an Alford plea to one count of second-degree murder and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. He was subsequently sentenced to 60 years in prison, with all but 25 years suspended. Prosecutors noted that while Coates was not the triggerman, his role in setting up the drug deal and participating in the robbery made him culpable in Ramsay's death.
