Woman Pleads Guilty to Shooting Girlfriend of Her Father’s Children

By Andrew Michaels - September 17, 2024
Attempted Murder | Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Shooting | Suspects |

A 32-year-old woman pleaded guilty to shooting the girlfriend of her father’s children on Sept. 17 during a dispute over a cell phone earlier this year.

During Tuesday’s proceeding, Shairora Whitaker accepted the prosecution’s plea offer of 25 years, suspending all but five years, and three years of supervised probation for attempted second-degree murder and a concurrent five years without parole for firearm use in a felony or violent crime in connection to the incident on March 3. Whitaker must also stay away from the victim and register as a gun offender upon her release.

According to the prosecution, the victim was waiting in her car for her boyfriend at the intersection of Bethune Road and Seagull Avenue near the defendant’s residence. When her boyfriend returned, he said he left his cell phone inside the defendant’s home, so his girlfriend called Whitaker to let her know.

A short time later, Whitaker came outside and shot the victim in her chest.

The prosecutor told Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Yolanda A. Tanner that Whitaker had no arrests or convictions prior to this shooting. The assistant state’s attorney noted that she “had to balance” this information with the location of the victim’s gunshot wound while determining the plea.

“I think there were many factors that led [the defendant] not to be herself,” defense attorney Janet Andersen told the court alongside co-counsel Robert Cohen.

Judge Tanner said her initial reaction upon hearing the incident details was that “this is over some man’s phone,” while questioning why Whitaker had a gun when she had children in her home.

“The mere presence [of the gun] made it easy to go shoot some woman in the chest,” the judge said.

The victim, who was present in the courtroom during the plea hearing, declined to give a victim impact statement.