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Jeffrey Whitney Bryan, Jr., 31, was arrested in February by members of the Frederick Police Department following a lengthy investigation into the fatal shooting of Governor Thomas Johnson High School grad Tayquan Palmer in July 2023.
On Thursday, July 11, the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office announced that Bryan pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, which was accepted by a judge, officials said.
Then, on, Sept. 17, a judge sentenced Bryan to life in prison with all but 40 years suspended to be served in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
In July last year, officers were called to the 100 block of West All Saints Street to investigate a shooting involving a man who was "shot in the face," where they found Palmer, 28, suffering from a single gunshot wound and bleeding from the side of his head.
He was treated at the scene by responding officers and paramedics, but he died from his injury at the scene of the shooting.
According to prosecutors, the incident happened following an outdoor "get together" of upwards of 30 people the previous night that bled into the morning of July 1, 2023, in and around a parking lot on All Saints Street.
During that event, Palmer and Bryan got into an argument, investigators said, with the shooter leaving at around 10:40 and returning at around 12:10 a.m. the following morning in a hoodie and full face mask.
Prosecutors say that Bryan waited in Gaithers Alley until Palmer got away from the crowd, at which point he shot him in the head.
When he is released from prison, a judge also ordered that Bryan serve five years of supervised probation including mental health treatment/evaluations, abstinence from alcohol/drugs and all standard conditions.
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