Aberdeen man shot teen in self-defense during robbery at McDonald’s, attorney says

A 32-year-old Aberdeen man accused of killing a teenager at a Belcamp McDonald’s in April is saying it was self-defense.

During opening statements in Harford County Circuit Court Thursday, public defender John Janowich said an April 23 altercation inside the McDonald’s on the 1300 block of Riverside Parkway was going to end with either his client, Djbril Ramatoulay, dying or Sebashton “Ashton” Nocar dying.

Nocar, 19, of Bel Air, was killed, and Ramatoulay is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in Nocar’s death. Ramatoulay also faces charges of first-degree assault, as well as attempted first- and second-degree murder of Nocar’s friend, Cameron Waid, reckless endangerment and several firearms violations.

Janowich said Nocar had the gun and Ramatoulay had to disarm him in order to save his own life during an attempted robbery inside the McDonald’s bathroom. To prove Ramatoulay’s fear for his own life, he told jurors his client soiled himself during the incident, as evidenced by the pants he was wearing that investigators found in his home.

According to Assistant State’s Attorney Trenna Manners, the altercation began as Nocar and three friends were hanging out in the parking lot of a nearby Waffle House restaurant as Ramatoulay was doing the same around McDonald’s.

“More likely than not you will not condone their behavior,” Manners advised jurors about the testimony they will hear on the boys’ actions that night. “It may even offend you,” she said.

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