It started as a drug deal gone bad. It ended with one man dead and a pregnant woman shot in the leg in Temple Hills.
On Tuesday, Gerald Edward Anderson, 25, of Marlow Heights, was sentenced to 80 years in prison for killing 23-year-old Gary Randall. The pregnant woman, Randall’s girlfriend, survived the May 22, 2008, shooting and carried her baby to term, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey said. Today, the baby is healthy and happy, he said.
“Mr. Anderson was not someone who was interested in mediating this disagreement,” Ivey said. “Thank God he stopped himself and didn’t kill a woman and her unborn child.”
According to prosecutors, Anderson identified himself to police as a member of the Bloods gang. He was known to wear gang colors and he had gang tattoos.
On the night of the shooting, Anderson arranged to meet Randall in Temple Hills under the guise that Randall would have the opportunity to fix problems Anderson had with previous drug deals, prosecutors said.
Randall drove to the meeting spot. Before he could get out of the car, authorities said, Anderson shot Randall in the head, killing him instantly. Randall’s pregnant girlfriend tried to run, but Anderson shot her in the leg as she was trying to get out of the car.
“She pleaded for her life and the life of her child,” said Ivey’s spokeswoman, Sharon Dukes.
Anderson let her live, a decision Dukes said he later regretted.
During the trial, a Prince George’s County deputy sheriff testified that Anderson told the deputy he “knew he messed up because he ‘left one standing,’ ” Dukes said. He later bragged about the killing while in the county jail. During a hearing in the months leading up to his trial, Anderson threatened to kill a witness.
Ivey said, “Anderson clearly belongs behind bars. The sentence was fair. This is a guy who killed someone in cold blood,” Ivey said.
