Truck driver sentenced for shooting into car on Interstate 83 in Baltimore County

A truck driver who fired into a car on Interstate 83 in Baltimore County with a 2-year-old inside during what police allege was a series of shootings will serve up to 40 years in prison, a judge ruled Thursday.

Baltimore County Circuit Judge James Rhodes described the crime as “absolutely crazy” as he sentenced Christian Ramos, 30, of Melrose Park, Illinois, for attempted first-degree murder and related crimes. He was convicted in April at trial.

“This was particularly one of the most horrendous acts that anyone can undertake,” Rhodes said. “This was an unprovoked shooting.”

Ramos represented himself at sentencing and declined to speak during the court proceedings.

Not long before midnight on June 18, 2025, Ramos fired a bullet through the front passenger side window of a car with three people inside near Shawan Road in Cockeysville. No one was physically hurt.

During the investigation, the Maryland State Police said they learned there had been three additional shootings that happened earlier on I-83 in Pennsylvania.

Police reviewed dash camera video, conducted interviews and identified Ramos as the shooter. They located him at a TA Travel Center in Elkton.

When law enforcement executed a search and seizure warrant, they said they found a loaded .45-caliber handgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and multiple cartridge casings inside his tractor-trailer.

The shooting was “extremely serious, and completely without explanation,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Dominick, who pushed for a sentence of 50 years in prison.

Ramos, he said, not only endangered the lives of the occupants of the vehicle he shot up in Baltimore County but other drivers on the road as well. The sentencing guidelines called for a punishment between 12 and 37 years in prison.

“Someone who commits an act like this is a dangerous person,” Dominick said. “This is an unconscionable act by the defendant.”

Ramos remains charged in York County, Pennsylvania, with four counts of attempted criminal homicide and related offenses.