A Baltimore City woman shot her husband on Thursday after learning from parents that he was sexually abusing children in the daycare that she owned, the Lil Kids Kastle daycare in Owings Mills.
James Weems, Jr., 57, a retired Baltimore City police offer, is hospitalized, but will be extradited back to Maryland and will face child molestation charges.
Baltimore County police said Mr. Weems worked as a van driver at the daycare for two years during which time the alleged abuses occurred.
His wife, Shanteari Weems, learned about one of the accusations, and then the mother of another alleged victim spoke to her about what became a second case of abuse.
Court documents say that Ms. Weems reported the abuse to police, but kept getting calls from parents.
She confronted her husband at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington.
Her attorney, Tony Garcia, said his client went to the hotel to confront her husband “hoping against hope that there would be some way that he could explain it away… She didn’t want to kill him, but she would not allow him to injure another child on her watch. Not on her watch.”
“The two of them were in the room,” Garcia said. “She’s making the allegations. When confronted with a second child, he charged at her, and she had to defend herself. And she shot him. Twice. But she did not intend to kill him ever.”
In addition to claiming self defense, Attorney Garcia said his client has a legal permit to carry a weapon.
Ms. Weems was taken into custody after a standoff at the hotel. She faces multiple charges including assault with intent to kill and possession of an unregistered firearm, among other counts.
A distraught Shanteari Weems told her attorney, Garcia, “How do I look those parents in the face?”
“I was asked to take care of those kids and I take that seriously, but he will not molest another child,” Garcia said, repeating the words of his client.
“She says she’s sorry to those mothers,” Garcia said. “There are a lot of mothers and parents out there who are afraid right now because they don’t know whether their child is not telling them something, that something happened to them or that they saw something. And she’s sorry.”
Ms. Weems appeared in court again on Friday. A Washington DC Superior Court judge ordered continued detention.
Judge Sherry M. Trafford said in a preliminary hearing that Shanteari Weems’ decision making gave her “great concern” and said Weems should not be released before her next court appearance, set for August 9.
