On an autumn afternoon, the life of 23-year-old Juan Michael Ross was abruptly ended by gunfire in Columbia, Maryland. On October 4, 2020, Howard County Police responded to a report of a shooting in the 9600 block of Basket Ring Road just after 2:30 p.m. Arriving at the scene, officers discovered Ross suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believed the shooting was not a random act and that Ross had been specifically targeted.
The investigation into the death of Juan Michael Ross, a resident of Jessup, soon uncovered a sinister plot. Detectives determined that his murder was a meticulously planned murder-for-hire conspiracy. The motive appeared to be rooted in the belief that Ross was cooperating with law enforcement. Just a month before his death, on September 5, 2020, Ross had been arrested on drug and weapon charges. He was subsequently released on bail after being interviewed by police. This led a co-conspirator to publicly accuse Ross of being an informant during a live social media conversation on September 9, 2020, and in text messages.
The investigation quickly led to the identification of several suspects. On November 20, 2020, Howard County Police arrested two men in Baltimore in connection with the homicide. Daquante Donte Thomas, 18, of Gwynn Oak, and Tyrik Michael Braxton, 24, of Baltimore, were taken into custody. Both men were charged with first and second-degree murder and assault, with Braxton facing an additional charge of conspiracy to commit murder. A third individual, Jourdain Larose, 26, of Ellicott City, was later indicted by a federal grand jury on December 15, 2021, for his alleged role in soliciting the murder. The indictment alleged that Larose, a member of the Crips street gang, had paid Thomas and Braxton to kill Ross.
In a significant development, Tyrik Braxton, also known as 'Son-Son,' pleaded guilty to his involvement in the murder-for-hire plot. Braxton admitted that he had accepted money from a co-conspirator to assist in the murder of Ross. He acknowledged his role in aiding and abetting the co-conspirators who carried out the fatal shooting. On a summer day in 2024, U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin sentenced the now 28-year-old Braxton to 25 years in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release for the use and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death. The cases against the other defendants were proceeding through the justice system.
