Despite rising cries from her family for her to be released, the daycare owner who shot her husband after learning of claims that he had been abusing the kids in her care was refused bond today.
At the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington, DC, on Thursday, July 21, Shanteari Weems, 50, shot her husband James Weems Jr., 57. She had just learned that James, a retired police officer and security guard, had assaulted a kid when the kid’s mom who attends her daycare informed her.
He had previously faced a similar complaint, and Baltimore Police had begun an investigation against him earlier this month due to other abuse allegations.
According to Weems’ counsel, she traveled to the hotel to face her spouse but when she got there, he turned aggressive.
She reportedly shot him out of “self-defense,” and an hour later she was taken into custody. He was brought to the hospital, where he is now being charged with child abuse after having survived the incident.
Shanteari was accompanied by her grown children when she appeared before a court at the Superior Court in Washington, DC, on Friday. However, the judge granted her bail because she posed a safety concern.
Due to the fact that she had penned a manifesto that said, in part, “on my way to shoot James,” the prosecution contended that she could not be trusted in society.
Andrew Barrett, Weems’ son, was plainly upset by the choice.
In response, family lawyer Tony Garcia said it’s ridiculous that they think she poses a safety concern since the sole reason she’s behind bars is as a result of attempting to safeguard the safety of children.
She was “relieved” that her spouse had been accused of child sex offenses, he said, since it shows “she was correct.”
Although she is sorry, it is a comfort that law enforcement thinks he assaulted kids.
He had been disputing it, but it has since been proven. She was accurate. He had been harassing them. It’s much worse than she anticipated since 3 kids, not two, are involved.
The next court date for Weems is August 9.
Many people who don’t blame her for killing her husband in light of the horrible accusations against him are calling more and more for her to be released.
A GoFundMe campaign created last week to cover her legal costs was taken down.
Weems, a woman who has worked in childcare for 20 years, was in a rage when one of the parents at her daycare informed her that her husband had harmed their kid. She sped from her home in Randallstown, Maryland, to Washington, DC.
The first charge resulted in the closure of Lil Kidz Kastle, the daycare that Shanteari owns and where her husband worked as a bus driver; this was the second.
Shanteari traveled 50 miles south to Washington to face him in his room after learning of the second accusation. According to her attorney, she discharged a handgun at him in self-defense when he started acting violently. It’s still a mystery whose weapon it was.
In the meanwhile, James is awaiting his first court appearance on allegations of child sex assault, and Shanteari’s family and attorney are fighting for her release.
She has entered hell. When these moms came to her, the woman was terribly and totally devastated.
She definitely did not want him to touch another youngster while she was watching.
She has 20 years of experience in this. She created this company from scratch. Her entire life’s work has been earning the confidence and permission of moms to watch their children while they are at work. To have this occur, and it’s not even a worker.
James Weems was the target of the initial accusations earlier this month. The daycare was thus immediately shut down.
Weems, a 57-year-old former police officer who had been employed in private security, had been driving a bus to assist out at the daycare.
The daycare center in Owings Mills, Maryland was closed down by the first accusation against him prior to the events at the hotel on Thursday.
Uncertainty surrounds the gender of the youngsters involved, but Weems is allegedly the subject of three different complaints at this time.
His devoted wife, who also serves for a nonprofit that cleans the streets, heard from another mother on Thursday while he was in Washington, D.C.
She drove to DC because she wanted to visit him and ask him if it was real or not. He has worked in executive security, is a retired marine, a former police officer, and he is armed. She went in the hopes that the claim was untrue.
She had to protect herself after he reacted aggressively to being implicated.
For the following hour, it’s unclear exactly what took on in the room. After the room’s alarm went off, police were called.
James yelled that he had been shot in the head and leg during the hour-long confrontation inside.
Shanteari began making notes, and one of them expressed her wish to “paralyze” her spouse. She stated that her only disappointment was “not putting a bullet through his skull” because she intended him to “pay” for what he had committed to the children.
After some time, she was detained, and he was transported to the hospital, where he is still being treated for a broken femur.
Despite admitting to have been shot in the head, he is awake and is likely to survive the event.
Friends and relatives of Shanteari are uniting behind her, pledging to fight for her release online, and starting GoFundMe campaigns to cover her legal costs.
Her attorney stated, they hope to get bail, that is their aim. Friday sees her court appearance.
The specifics of the accusations made against Weams are still lacking. Invoking privacy regulations, Maryland Child Protective Services refused to comment on the situation.
A Department of Education spokeswoman declined to say explicitly when the agency had received concerns about Weams.
Weems has been the subject of an investigation, according to the Baltimore County Police Department, until earlier this month.
Detectives in Baltimore County got wind of the abuse earlier this month and started looking into Weems. Weems is accused of several crimes.
He is still being treated at a hospital while being held by police in Washington, DC, for extradition.
An official spokesman noted that detectives from Baltimore County “continue to work closely with detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department as well as members of the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Maryland State Department of Education, and the Maryland Department of Human Services, Child Protective Services.”
Friends of the woman are currently campaigning for her release.
‘Shanny and I have been friends for 32 years. She has helped my student workers and the Baltimore Clean Streets initiative in recent years.
According to Sean Stinnett, who oversees the program, “Shanny supplied catered lunch and holiday stipends — $75 per student-worker times 30 — each of the previous two years.”
A GoFundMe page set up by her adult children to raise money for her defense was taken down at the last minute.
