A daycare owner in Baltimore pleaded guilty in court on Monday to ostensibly shooting her husband in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington D.C. for molestation accusations in her child care center in July.
Shanteari Weems, the owner of Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center in Owing Mills, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault intentionally while armed with an unlicensed pistol outside a home or business.
The court charged Shanteari with possessing an unlicensed firearm and assault with intent to kill. Other charges she faced were possessing the gun during the crime and resisting arrest by having a standoff with police officers. Those charges will be dismissed during her sentencing, CBS Baltimore reported.
The shooting occurred on July 21 and happened after daycare clients informed her of the actions of her husband, James Ween, a retired Baltimore police officer.
“On that day…a child’s mother actually came and told her face to face, ‘This is what your husband did to my child,'” Tony Garcia, Shanteari’s lawyer, said.
James reportedly molested about three children at the daycare. Garcia said Shanteari arrived at the hotel to confront her husband without the intention to kill him, but she was going to ensure he never got the chance to take advantage of a child again.
Shanteari said the argument escalated, and the two engaged in a heated debate that resulted in him charging at her, and she shot at him, hitting his neck and leg. Her attornies maintain that their client was simply defending herself.
Police arrived at the hotel after receiving a call about the shooting. Shanteari threatened to shoot herself if the cops entered the room. Once the standoff ended, police took Shanteari into custody. Police searched her belongings only to find an unofficial will and a notebook where she wrote that she didn’t want to kill James but to get justice for the harm he allegedly did to the children.
James is in police custody, specifically in a D.C. jail’s infirmary, while authorities investigate the molestation claims.
