Ellicott City man gets 40-year federal prison sentence in Columbia murder-for-hire

Mar. 1—By Allana Haynes — ahaynes@baltsun.com

PUBLISHED:March 1, 2024 at 11:41 a.m.| UPDATED:March 2, 2024 at 9:23 a.m.

U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin on Tuesday sentenced an Ellicott City man to 40 years in federal prison for his role in the October 2020 murder of a Columbia man.

According to a news release from the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office, Jourdain Larose, also known as "JBlacc," 28, solicited others to murder Juan Ross, 23, of Columbia, in exchange for money and in the course of the murder-for-hire, Larose aided and abetted his co-conspirators.

Larose had accused Ross of cooperating with law enforcement, according to his plea agreement, then provided a gun to another individual on Sept. 12, 2020, to kill Ross. On Oct. 3, 2020, Ross had not been killed and Larose solicited co-defendant Tyrik Braxton, also known as "Son-Son," 27, of Baltimore, to commit the murder instead. On the same day, Braxton texted a cell phone number linked to co-defendant Daquante Thomas, 21, of Baltimore, with the address where Ross could be found, the news release stated.

According to the news release, on Oct. 4, Braxton, Thomas and an unidentified third person drove to the Basket Ring Road area in Columbia, then headed to a nearby drug store where Braxton got out of the car and left. A short time later, Thomas and the other person returned to Basket Ring Road, shot and killed Ross, then drove off.

Braxton previously pleaded guilty to discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death and is expected to be sentenced to between 20 and 25 years in federal prison, according to the release. No date has been set for his sentencing. On Jan. 11, 2023, Rubin sentenced Thomas to 35 years in federal prison for the same charge.

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