A 19-year-old Woodstock man accused of shooting and paralyzing a man in the parking lot of a Bennigan?s restaurant in Columbia pleaded guilty Tuesday in Howard County Circuit Court.
Raymond Ko Kang pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and possession of a firearm while in the act of drug trafficking.
Prosecutors said Kang shot and paralyzed Harsh Thakkar, 20, of Elkridge, after a drug deal turned ugly in the chain restaurant?s parking lot.
Kang?s attorney, Clarke Ahlers, said his client?s guilty plea was a “fair” settlement.
“It?s a very serious situation,” he said.
On Dec. 28, Thakkar and an accomplice planned to “rip off” Kang and Jonathan Kim, 19, of Ellicott City, during a drug deal, according to an agreed-upon statement of facts in the case.
During an altercation, Kim struck Thakkar and Kang shot him, prosecutors said. Police responded to the scene at 6:30 p.m. and found Thakkar with a gunshot injury to his torso and paralyzed from the waist down, according to the statement of facts.
Kim also pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree assault and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana.
Kang was initially charged with attempted first-degree murder and Kim with first-degree assault. Prosecutors droppedthose more serious charges after the men agreed to plead guilty.
Prosecutor Claude de Vastey, an assistant Howard County state?s attorney, said she plans to ask Judge Diane Leasure for a 10-year sentence for Kang and a five-year sentence for Kim.
Kang and Kim are detained at the Howard County Detention Center until their Sept. 14 sentencing.
