Baltimore Man Sentenced to Over Eight Years in Prison for Attempted Restaurant Robbery That Left Accomplice Dead

BALTIMORE, MD — A Baltimore man has been sentenced to eight years and one month (97 months) in federal prison for his involvement in a planned ambush and attempted armed robbery of restaurant employees in August 2020. The heist ended in violence, leaving one victim wounded and one of the robbery accomplices dead.

Chief U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III sentenced 23-year-old Malik Thompson of Baltimore on June 6, 2025. Thompson had previously pleaded guilty to attempted interference with commerce by violence, also known as a Hobbs Act robbery. According to federal court documents, Thompson and two accomplices targeted the employees of a local, family-owned restaurant after discovering that they routinely transported the business's daily cash receipts to their residence in North Baltimore.

On the night of August 10, 2020, Thompson and his co-conspirators lay in wait near the victims' home. When the family members arrived, one of Thompson's accomplices stepped forward, brandished a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, and demanded the business's cash. The victims resisted the robbery, leading the armed accomplice to open fire and shoot one of the family members in the leg.

The wounded victim, acting in self-defense, drew his own licensed firearm and shot back, striking the armed assailant. Thompson and the third co-conspirator fled the scene immediately, abandoning their critically injured accomplice on the street. The wounded assailant later succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital. Thompson was subsequently identified and linked to the crime through cell phone location records, text messages, and DNA evidence recovered from a shoe left behind at the scene.