Two men who terrorized Chicago residents in a pair of armed carjackings have been sentenced to long federal prison terms, court records show. Marquell Davis, 23, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and Ramone Bradley, 27, received nine years for their roles in two violent carjackings they allegedly carried out with a third man, Edmund Singleton, whose case remains pending.
Prosecutors said the trio targeted random victims as they cruised around the city, including a doctor who uses crutches after suffering polio as a child.
According to prosecutors, the men set out around 7 p.m. on November 3, 2022, to find “innocent people to carjack and rob at gunpoint.” Surveillance footage showed Davis as the most aggressive of the group, leading the attacks on two separate victims, prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.
Traveling in a stolen Jeep SRT, the crew’s first target was a 43-year-old man refueling his Infiniti at a South Side gas station. Davis ran up behind him, jammed a snakeskin pistol into his back with such force that it left bruises, and forced him to the ground, prosecutors said. After stealing the victim’s keys, Davis pointed his loaded gun at him again as he scrambled away in fear.
A few hours later, the group struck again, this time targeting a hospital doctor who walks with crutches due to childhood polio. Prosecutors said the men paused their stolen Jeep for about 40 seconds as they watched the doctor exit his BMW at a gas station in the 3100 block of South Michigan Avenue. Even after it was obvious that their soon-to-be victim was disabled, they decided to go ahead with the hijacking attempt and boxed him in, prosecutors said.
Davis and Bradley allegedly jumped out with guns drawn, forcing the doctor to the ground and taking his keys and wallet. They fled when they could not operate the victim’s specially outfitted vehicle, which was outfitted with special equipment to accommodate his disability.
Shortly afterward, police officers spotted the stolen Jeep and tried to stop it. The men led police on a 20-minute chase through residential neighborhoods, prosecutors said, before abandoning the SUV and running through backyards while armed. Davis was seen discarding his distinctive pistol into a trash can, where officers later recovered it.
Photos and videos from Davis’s phone showed him posing with the same firearm and others in the days before the attacks, prosecutors said, portraying a pattern of reckless, gun-fueled behavior.
Even after pleading guilty, Davis tried to interfere in Singleton’s upcoming trial, according to prosecutors. They said Singleton’s girlfriend deposited $50 into Davis’s jail account in exchange for a notarized affidavit falsely claiming that Singleton was not involved in the carjackings. Emails and jail payment records documented the exchange, and prosecutors introduced the evidence to support an obstruction of justice enhancement at sentencing.
Prosecutors argued that the crimes reflected “a complete disregard for human life” and that both victims were “innocent people going about their daily lives” who were left traumatized by the attacks.
Davis faced the possibility of more than 24 years in prison, but U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly settled on a relatively lenient sentence of 12 years. Bradley received a nine-year term from Kennelly while Singleton’s case is still pending in federal court.
