Target Parking Lot Shooter Sentenced: 'Justice Is Served'

GERMANTOWN, MD — A gunman who pleaded guilty to shooting his former girlfriend in the face as she lay wounded in a Germantown Target store parking lot was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Mariam Folashade Adebayo, 24, of Germantown was gunned down by her ex-boyfriend in June 2015 in the parking lot of the Germantown Target store. She died at a local hospital from her gunshots wounds. Her former boyfriend, Donald Wayne Bricker Jr., 28, pleaded guilty in December 2015 to the murder.

In April 2016, Bricker argued in Montgomery County Circuit Court that he didn’t understand what he was doing last summer, and that his plea should be tossed out. His note to the court said Bricker was high on prescription drugs when he entered the plea, which carries a sentence of life in prison without parole, The Washington Post.

Bricker also argued his attorney – who has since dropped out of the case -- hadn’t explained the consequences of his plea, and that he has had trouble thinking clearly while in jail. But that appeal was rejected in July.

After this week's sentencing, Adebayo's family told NBC Washington that "justice is served."

Detectives say the suspect and victim met in the shopping center to talk. The couple had dated for about six months and recently ended their relationship as Bricker grew more controlling, police say.

Montgomery County Police say Bricker repeatedly texted Adebayo, demanding to know if she was dating someone after she ended their relationship – sending more than 2,000 texts to her in the final days before the shooting. Adebayo agreed to meet him in public but they argued while sitting Adebayo’s car. When she left the vehicle, Bricker followed her and shot Adebayo, then stood over the wounded woman and shot her in the face.

Mavis Castillo, Adebayo’s aunt, told Montgomery Community Media that her niece graduated in 2013 from University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in public health. Adebayo had volunteered in the community, and was looking for a position in her field.

Adebayo’s best friend, from high school, Stephanie Evans remembered the victim as her sunshine.
“She always saw the good in people, and unfortunately it was what led her to the passing,” Evans told the media outlet at a June vigil for her slain friend.

Bricker, a registered sex offender, was barred from owning firearms because of his felony record, but bought a replica black powder revolver through the mail, which is legal in Maryland, WTOP reports.

»Photo of Mariam Folashade Adebayo, courtesy of Montgomery Community Media