MD man sentenced in murder case featured on ‘America’s Most Wanted’

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A Hagerstown man was sentenced Monday, May 4, to life in prison plus five years in the shooting death of his mother’s ex-boyfriend, Sharron A. Clark, on Oct. 18, 2022, in Hagerstown.

Washington County Circuit Judge Joseph S. Michael, referencing comments he’d just heard from family members of defendant Taejon Najerie Gill, said Gill is well loved and has support. Michael said Gill’s defense was that he isn’t the hooded person seen in the surveillance video who shot at Clark and continued shooting at him as the hooded figure chased him.

A Washington County jury, on March 26, found Gill, 24, guilty of charges including the first-degree murder of Clark.

During the May 4 sentencing hearing, Michael had surveillance video of the shooting played again in court. Afterward, he said if Gill is the wrong person and the community cares about Gill, “they ought to care enough to bring forward the person who did it.”

He said there were several people in the area when the shooting occurred, describing it as a “hive of activity.”

When Michael asked Hagerstown Police Detective Shawn Weaver if anyone had come forward with any other identification for the shooter, Weaver said no one had.

Michael said the shooter was lurking in wait, standing with another person or two, so someone “knows who did this.”

Maybe there is some other back story or explanation, but the court hasn’t heard it, Michael said.

While several people described Gill as a pillar of the community who was important part of peoples’ lives, Michael said Gill also “absented himself from the community while charges were pending.”

The case was featured on America’s Most Wanted on Feb. 19, 2024, when Hagerstown Police were seeking assistance in finding Gill. Gill was arrested June 13, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshal Service. That’s about 20 months after the shooting.

So Michael said it can’t be said that Gill is a “standup guy” when he ran out on those who needed him.

People who want to see the video can talk to Weaver because maybe they can identify one of the witnesses “and get to the bottom of this,” Michael said.

Tips can be submitted anonymously to Hagerstown Police, Weaver said after the hearing.

Crime tips can be submitted to Hagerstown Police at [email protected] or by calling the detective bureau at 301-739-8577, extension 234, according to the police department’s website.

But Michael said the jury convicted Gill and it’s the court’s job to issue a sentence, Michael said.

Noting that the shooter waited for Gill’s mother to arrive and for Clark to step up to the street “to assassinate him,” Michael said that is “first-degree murder every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

Michael sentenced Gill to life in prison for the first-degree murder conviction and to five years, consecutively, for being convicted of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony/violent crime. Other charges for which Gill was found guilty were merged for sentencing.

The judge had sentenced Gill to the 20-year maximum for the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony/violent crime conviction, but suspended all but the 5-year mandatary minimum during which Gill will not be eligible for parole.

Gill also won’t be eligible for parole for 20 years of the life sentence so he is expected to serve at least 25 years before being eligible for parole. He has 677 days credit for time served, which is over a year and 10 months.

Michael told Gill he could file a motion for modification of sentence hearing if, for no other reason, Gill wants to share his account of the events once his appeal is resolved.

What we know about Sharron Clark’s murder

Hagerstown Police were in the Jonathan Street area around 8 p.m. on Oct. 18, 2022, when they heard the sounds of gunshots, according to an earlier Herald-Mail story.

As the officers tried to figure out where the sound came from, the Washington County 911 center received a 911 call about a gunshot victim nearby in the first block of Murph Avenue.

Within moments, officers found Clark, 45, a Hagerstown resident who had multiple gunshot wounds. Police began providing first aid and continued measures to try to save Clark’s life until emergency medical services personnel arrived. EMS took Clark to Meritus Medical Center near Hagerstown, where he was later pronounced deceased.

Gill’s mother identified her son as the shooter, Lt. Rebecca Fetchu, spokesperson for Hagerstown Police, has said.

His mother told police she had been in a relationship with Clark for about 15 years, but at the time of the shooting the couple hadn’t been together for a few months, according to charging documents.

Gill had moved out of his mother’s home during the year before the shooting.

She also told police that her son had a “rocky relationship” with Clark and that she was called by a relative to head to Jonathan Street the night of the shooting because an issue had occurred between Gill and Clark. She had been on the phone with Gill earlier that night, telling police that her son was upset and angry when they talked, according to charging documents.

Gill’s mother told police that as soon as she arrived in the Jonathan Street neighborhood, Clark was shot.

City surveillance footage shows someone walking up to Clark, Gill’s mother and another person standing by a white vehicle on Murph Avenue; removing a black handgun from his waist, and pointing it at Clark, according to charging documents.

Clark swats at the gun before stepping back and the suspect fires a round at Clark, according to charging documents. Clark runs east on Murph Avenue, cutting between two vehicles, while the suspect chases him and fires another shot.

The suspect catches up with Clark in front of a residence in the first block of Murph Avenue and, “at very close range,” fires several rounds at Clark, charging documents state. Clark collapses and the suspect flees west on foot and eventually out of camera view.

When police showed Gill’s mother street-level surveillance video that showed the shooting, she told police the suspect looked like her son, according to charging documents. Asked if she was certain, she allegedly said she was.

In the charging documents, police note that at the time of the shooting Gill’s mother turned around as the suspect was approaching and was able to look directly at the suspect.

Gill, families speak up during sentencing hearing

Clark’s mother and brother both told Michael they were in court for closure.

“I just don’t understand what happened. I just want closure,” Clark’s mother said. “We lost a lot.”

She said Clark would take care of everyone, including in the neighborhood.

The teenage son of Clark and Gill’s mother told Michael, “I feel like my brother wouldn’t do that unless there was something else going on with my Dad.”

“That’s my brother. I know him. He wouldn’t do something like that,” the younger brother said.

Michael asked Weaver how many shootings and homicides had occurred within 50 yards of where Clark was shot.

Weaver said there had been several shootings and a homicide in 2020.

Daynard Devere Johnson, of Waynesboro, was shot in his car around 10:25 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020, in the 300 block of Henry Avenue in Hagerstown, according to earlier Herald-Mail stories.

Gill, during the sentencing hearing, provided his condolences to Clark’s family. He said he sent his love and prayers to the family.

“I know everything seems confusing,” said Gill, who didn’t speak about the events of the shooting.

Gill asked for leniency for himself, for his younger brother’s sake, saying his younger brother is like a son to him. He said their neighborhood is full of gangs of drugs and he wants his brother to “have a shot in life.”

Several of Gill’s family members also asked Michael for leniency, including his maternal grandmother. She said, “There’s nothing in this world he wouldn’t do for anybody.”

Reporting by Julie E. Greene, The Herald-Mail / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.