Marquise Winston, 25, convicted of second-degree murder and using a handgun in a crime of violence, received a total of 40 years in prison for his role as the gunman in the 2017 murder of beloved Federal Hill bartender, Alexander Wroblewski. Winston’s girlfriend and co-conspirator, Tonya Hayes, 38, was convicted of handgun charges in relation to the homicide and was sentenced to four years in prison. In February, the third defendant and son of Hayes, Tivontre Gatling-Mouzon, 21, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery and accepted a 20-year sentence with all but eight years suspended.
Assistant State’s Attorney Sheryl Atkins prosecuted this case.
On November 14, 2017, police received a call regarding a robbery in 1400 block of Lawrence Street. When police arrived, they discovered what appeared to be an overly intoxicated person, lying on the sidewalk. However, medics arrived to the scene and determined that the man—later identified as Alexander Wroblewski—was suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to his stomach. The victim was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced deceased several hours later.
No blood or ballistics evidence was found at the scene; however, high-quality security footage from the nearby gas station captured the persons of interest, the events that led up to the incident and the shooting. When police released video that showed the persons of interest, witnesses, who had knowledge about the suspects, came forward to homicide detectives. One witness identified the getaway driver as Tonya Hayes. Other witnesses recognized Hayes’ boyfriend, Marquise Winston, and identified him as the shooter in the surveillance footage. Hayes’ son, Tivontre Gatling-Mouzon, was also positively identified as the third accomplice in the robbery/ homicide.
The surveillance video shows a silver car drive into the station and park beside a gas pump. Hayes exits from the driver’s side while Winston exits from the front passenger’s side. Winston holds the door open for the victim, who is leaving the store. Winston then goes inside the store but quickly returns to the car to retrieve an unidentifiable object from the vehicle. After he speaks briefly with Gatling-Mouzon, who is seated in the back of the car, Winston walks off in the direction of Wroblewski.
Next, Gatling-Mouzon is seen getting out of the car to follow Winston. The men approach the victim and attempt to rob him, but Wroblewski resists and an altercation ensues. As result, the victim is shot by Winston. Tonya Hayes —who trailed the men from the car for the entire incident—is captured fleeing the scene once Gatling-Mouzon and Winston are inside the vehicle.
“These defendants’ actions totally disrupted a community and I am thankful they were held accountable for this senseless tragedy,” said State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. “While nothing can bring back Mr. Wroblewski, I hope these sentences bring some sense of peace to the victim’s family and the neighborhood he loved so dearly.”
