A 71-year-old man from Brooklyn Park was sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday for shooting and killing his stepson over a parking spot.
In March, George Summers pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a firearm offense before Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Cathleen Vitale, who sentenced him to 40 years for the murder charge, the maximum punishment allowed in Maryland, and 20 years for the firearm charge. The sentences will run concurrently.
In a statement Monday, Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said Friday’s sentence will ensure that Summers “will remain behind bars for the expected remainder of his life.”
“This is sadly another case where a verbal dispute turned deadly because of easy access to a firearm, the opposite of what was needed in this heated situation,” Leitess said. “There is no excuse for a man to lose his life over something as trivial as a parking space, especially at the hands of his own stepfather.”
Summers was arrested Feb. 22, 2023, the same day first responders treated Sharod Moore’s gunshot wound. Moore, 48, had been shot in the head in the Park Place home he shared with his family and was taken to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he died two days later.
The day of the shooting, a witness told police Summers was the gunman and he was taken into custody. After being advised of his Miranda rights, Summers agreed to speak with investigators without an attorney present and told them he shot his stepson over “an ongoing parking dispute,” police said.
According to court filings, the argument took place after Moore parked his car in Summers’ usual spot. Summers claimed he told his wife multiple times to have Moore move the car, but the stepson was unable to find his keys.
Summers then told his wife he would “break down” Moore’s bedroom door and kill him, police said. After the afternoon shooting, Summers waited outside for police to arrive.
Leitess said it was “devastating” that Moore’s mother was in the house at the time of the murder.
While Summers was in jail, public defenders Denis O’Connell and Caroline Spies attempted to suppress evidence involving any communication between Summers and his wife, arguing they were private and privileged conversations. In response, prosecutors argued they were not confidential chats, saying Moore may have been able to overhear them from inside the house.
Vitale suppressed the threat Summers made against Moore to his wife but did not protect all communications between them during their marriage.
O’Connell and Spies were not immediately available Monday for comment.
Moore was described in his obituary as a family man, a son, a brother, an uncle, and a grandson.
He was infatuated with the arts from an early age, watching films with his brother before eventually joining the drama club at Glen Burnie High School, where he graduated in 1992. He was also a fan of music and dancing and his family said they could “always count on him to be the best dressed on the scene.
“It’s evident in everything he did, that Sharod loved his family and friends and they loved him even more,” his family wrote.
This article may be updated.
