Shanteari Weems opens up about why she shot her ex-cop husband
Shanteari Weems, who is in prison for shooting her husband dead over child abuse allegations, appears in a prison interview in March 2023. (Via screengrab/WUSA)
A Baltimore woman who is serving jail time for shooting dead her ex-cop husband after he was accused of molesting several children at their daycare is surviving time behind bars, she says.
Shanteari Weems, 50, admittedly shot and killed her husband James Weems, 58, in July 2022 at the Salamander, an upscale hotel formerly known as the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, in Washington, DC
In early February, a judge rejected a settlement between prosecutors and the defense after the woman pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and carrying a handgun without a license. Prosecutors had asked for only two years in prison. However, DC Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe rebuked the defendant for taking the law into her own hands and doubled down on the motion and sentenced her to four years in prison.
“I was emotional,” Shanteari Weems said earlier this month in an interview with DC-based CBS affiliate WUSA — her first time since she was convicted of two-shotting her husband over those numerous allegations of child sex abuse left in the body.
In August 2022, James Weems, who worked as a bus driver for his wife’s daycare after retiring from the Baltimore Police Department in 2005, was charged with 21 counts related to the abuse of two children at the daycare in Owings Mills, Maryland. Authorities initially accused him of molesting at least three children and interviewed 93 different children as part of their investigation, CBS News reported. Prosecutors later levied a further 12 charges against him.
When these allegations reached Mrs Weems via a parent of one of the accusers, she said she initially intended not only to confront him, but to kill him and then kill herself because her world as she had known it for so long , had collapsed.
“I’m freaking out,” she told WUSA’s Bruce Leshan during the interview at the DC Correctional Facility.
The former law enforcement officer told the TV station she has her eyes on the future.
“I’m fine despite my surroundings,” Shanteari Weems told WUSA. “I have many supporters and people who build me up and help me survive.”
The hashtag #FREESHANTEARI can often be seen online in response to her case. Her followers behind bars and in public are legion.
The allegations of child abuse were brought to the attention of the inmate in the days leading up to the shooting. Police in the area told her but didn’t tell her who her prime suspect in the investigation was. During her interview, she said law enforcement was vague. Nevertheless, she asked her husband about it.
“The only person I needed to get information from was my husband,” she told the TV station. “And he kept saying he didn’t do it… I believed him.”
But one parent was less vague. They identified Mr Weems as the perpetrator.
“I saw the pain on her face and knew she wasn’t lying,” Shanteari Weems reportedly said. “She ended up saying it was my husband.”
“I felt like the blood just came out of my body because … it was my husband,” she said. “He should help me protect these children. He always told me he was my protector. When I heard that, I just felt – I just felt like my world had ended. We should both be on this crusade to save children and child abuse is something we talked about the whole time how awful it was. I think about that kid all the time. I think about all the kids all the time.”
Then she grabbed a drink, she said, her first taste of alcohol in decades, and texted a friend about her plans. She got the gun and set it up.
In a press release, the US Department of Justice said the defendant shot the victim in the neck and left leg, shattering his femur. After she shot him, Weems barricaded herself in a hotel room by placing her back against the door and preventing officers from entering. The officers broke in after about 25 minutes and arrested her. In the hotel room, officers found Weems’ firearm in her purse and a note she had written explaining her intention to shoot the victim, officials said.
“I’m not a violent person,” Shanteari Weems told WUSA. “The situation was like a fire.”
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https://lawandcrime.com/crime/i-have-a-lot-of-supporters-woman-jailed-for-admittedly-shooting-her-ex-cop-husband-after-he-was-accused-of-sexually-abusing-multiple-children-looks-to-the-future/ Shanteari Weems opens up about why she shot her ex-cop husband
