Owings Mills Daycare Owner Pleaded Guilty To Shooting Her Husband

OWINGS MILLS - An Owings Mills daycare owner accused of shooting her husband pleaded guilty on Monday to assault and gun charges, according to court records.

Shanteari Weems is charged with intent to kill, possessing an unregistered firearm, and other offenses, in connection to a July 21 shooting at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington, D.C.

Weems pleaded guilty to aggravated assault while armed and carrying a pistol without a license outside a home or business. She was also initially charged with possessing a firearm during a crime and resisting arrest. According to court documents, those charges will be dismissed during sentencing.

According to police, Weems’ shooting of her husband and subsequent standoff with police were initiated by accusations that her husband had sexually assaulted minors at the daycare Weems owns.

Weems’ attorneys directly stated that their client confronted her husband about the allegations causing the situation to escalate.

Weems’ husband, 57-year-old James Weems Jr., was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds after the July 21 shooting. He has since been discharged and remains in police custody pending multiple sexual abuse charges.

Ms. Weems’ attorneys made the case that their client shot her husband in self-defense.

According to police, Ms. Weems threatened to harm herself if officers entered the room after shooting her husband.

Police recovered two guns and an informal will and notebook detailing Weems’ alleged plans to shoot her husband as evidence for the investigation.

Ms. Weems is the registered owner of Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center in Owings Mills. The facility has spent the past months entangled in a police investigation into allegations that at least three children attending the center were molested.

Ms. Weems was denied bond in August after a D.C. court deemed her a threat to the community and expressed concern about her ability to make rational decisions.

Sentencing is scheduled for February 3, 2023.