Shanteari Young is stepping back into the world after a long and grueling legal battle that began with a mother’s worst nightmare.
After serving the bulk of a four-year sentence for the 2022 shooting of her ex-husband, the former owner of Lil Kidz Kastle is finally a free woman.
The final milestone came recently when her ankle monitor was removed, a moment that brought her to tears the second she got into her car. “I’m finally done,” she shared with The Baltimore Banner, marking the end of the court-ordered supervision that has defined her life for years.
The case that gripped the nation started when Young discovered her then-husband, James Weems Jr., was preying on children at her daycare facility. In July 2022, she traveled to a D.C. hotel to confront the retired Baltimore Police officer. The confrontation turned violent, and Young shot him in the neck and leg. While she eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and carrying a pistol without a license, she has never apologized to the man who betrayed her trust and the community. “
I will apologize when he apologizes to those children,” she stated firmly during her incarceration.
While Young was serving her time in federal custody, the justice system eventually confirmed the truth she had risked everything to expose. In 2024, James Weems Jr. was convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse and was sentenced to life in prison. Young even stood face-to-face with him in court to testify against him. Despite the years she lost behind bars, she hasn’t wavered on her actions, telling the public that she has “no regrets” about what happened that night.
Looking back at the entire ordeal, she added, “I’m definitely glad that the justice system saw what happened, and he was sentenced to what he got.”
Now, Young is channeling her focus into preventing other families from enduring the same trauma. She is currently working with Maryland lawmakers to advocate for a bill that would mandate specialized training for childcare providers to identify and report signs of sexual abuse. Beyond her legislative work, she is launching a nonprofit called Opened Umbrellas 4 Lil Kidz to support survivors and is finishing her memoir, “My Protector.”
“I want to show people that something catastrophic can happen to you, but you can rebuild, and you can move on,” she said. “I’m trying to change this into a positive situation and help people.”
