Baltimore-area woman arrested after shooting husband at D.C. hotel, says he molested children at her day care business
A Baltimore-area woman was arrested in Washington D.C., on Thursday after police say she shot her husband then barricaded him and herself in a hotel room for nearly an hour.
Shanteari Weems, 50, of Randallstown told police that she shot her husband because she believed he had molested children at the day care she runs in Owings Mills, according to charging documents. The Baltimore Sun is not identifying the man, a former Baltimore Police officer who retired from the department in 2005, then worked as a contract specialist until 2008, because he has not been charged with a crime.
Sgt. Gladys Brown, a spokesperson for Baltimore County Police, said Sunday that Lil Kidz Kastle, Weems’ day care, is closed “while an investigation moves forward.”
“Baltimore County detectives are currently monitoring the recent developments in Washington D.C.,” Brown said in a statement. “Due to the sensitive circumstances leading up to this incident, the Baltimore County Police Department continues to support the families impacted.”
Police spokesman Trae Corbin said Monday the department was investigating “the circumstances surrounding the incident that occurred in D.C.” but said he couldn’t provide a specific date for when the investigation was initiated or what possible crimes were being investigated “due to the sensitivity of the case.”
D.C. Police were called around 7:30 p.m. Thursday to the eighth floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, near The Wharf and the Tidal Basin. Hotel employees reportedly checked on the occupants of a room on the eighth floor after a fire alarm went off and saw blood on the wall before calling police, according to charging documents.
Weems would not open the door when police arrived at the room, officers wrote in charging documents, and threatened to shoot herself if they entered. She then told police that the man she shot was a child molester. The man told police through the door that he was shot in the head and leg. Officers then forcibly entered the room and took the man to a hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening, police said.
Weems was arrested and charged with assault with intent to kill and assault with a dangerous weapon. She told police that several children at the day care business she runs had recently told her that her husband of five years had molested them. She reported the allegations to Baltimore authorities, according to charging documents. She told the police she didn’t intend to kill her husband and wanted to harm herself.
A preliminary hearing scheduled Monday in D.C. Superior Court was continued to Friday morning, a spokesman for the D.C. courts said. Weems’ attorney, Joseph Fay, did not immediately return an email and voicemail seeking comment.
Court filings say police recovered two shell casings and two firearms from the hotel room during the execution of a search warrant. They also recovered a notebook with handwritten messages, court documents said.
The messages included notes saying “I’m going to shoot” the victim “but not kill him,” and “I want (him) to face the world as scum.” The victim is not named in the records.
It went on to say, according to the court records, “I want these kids to get justice” and “you gonna pay,” along with an apology to her “babies” and “I didn’t know.”
The notes conclude, police said, by “disseminating belongings in an informal last will and testament.”
In a statement provided to police, described in the court documents, Weems said she drove to meet with her husband on Wednesday and “repeatedly” asked him about “accusations of child molestation in Maryland.”
She got messages and phone calls from parents and teachers about the allegations, the records said, and she became more emotional, leading her to initiate a conversation with her husband on Thursday.
It escalated to an argument, she told police. At one point, he stood up and started to “go towards” her and she shot him.
