Woman who orchestrated triple shooting that killed Baltimore educator sentenced to 140 years

A woman who orchestrated a triple shooting that killed a Baltimore pre-K paraeducator after a fight at a children’s basketball game professed her innocence Tuesday before a judge ordered her to serve 140 years in prison.

Cassandra McRae said she’d been railroaded and asserted the jury lacked enough evidence to find her guilty of second-degree murder and related crimes.

“I have been wrongfully convicted on all charges, and I have committed no crime. I am innocent,” McRae said. “I want justice for your family, just as much as you do.”

But Baltimore Circuit Judge Dana Middleton described McRae, 38, of Northeast Baltimore, as the catalyst for the deadly shooting and said she was responsible for what happened even though she did not pull the trigger.

The jury listened to all the evidence, she said, including when McRae testified in her own defense.

“They heard you. You told your story,” Middleton said. “And they didn’t believe it.”

Baltimore Police were called to the intersection of York Road and Woodbourne Avenue in North Baltimore for a shooting on Jan. 22, 2025, and found three people inside an SUV with gunshot wounds.

Antoinette Jennings, 52, a pre-K paraeducator at Waverly Elementary/Middle School, was later pronounced dead. She had been attending her granddaughter’s basketball game nearby at the Tunbridge Public Charter School when a fight broke out.

Her son and granddaughter, who were 29 and 11 at the time, were wounded. Jennings’ daughter and grandson, then 33 and 6, were not shot.

Prosecutors reported that McRae made a phone call, got into a car and pursued the family after they left the basketball game.

She later ran toward their SUV, pointed and exclaimed, “There they go right there, there they go right there.” Two men walked up to the driver’s side of the vehicle and one of them opened fire. McRae then remarked, “That’s what’s up,” according to prosecutors.

Loved ones packed the courtroom, and deputy sheriffs had to seat some in the jury box to accommodate everyone. More than a dozen people wore black T-shirts that featured Jennings’ face along with the words “Justice” and “We miss you.”

“Antoinette Jennings was more than a name,” said her sister, Deborah White. “She was a woman whose life mattered.”

Gabriel Jennings, Antoinette Jennings’ husband, said he misses his wife and still sees her in his dreams. “I just want justice,” he said. “It’s just not right. It’s not fair.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Megan Gallo pushed for the maximum sentence: 295 years in prison.

McRae, she said, “orchestrated this entire plan.”

“It is because of this defendant’s reckless actions that this family no longer has Antoinette Jennings,” Gallo said. “She just couldn’t get over the fact that there was a fight at a kids’ basketball game.”

Michael Tomko, McRae’s attorney, called the sentencing recommendation “unbelievable” and described it as a “ridiculous number.”

He asked the judge to sentence his client to a maximum of 25 years in prison.

Tomko said McRae was a mother who worked two jobs in the healthcare field. He noted that she did not have a prior criminal record.

Her one-time partner, Tavon Singleton, 35, of North Baltimore, was found not guilty of all charges, including first-degree murder. The suspected shooter died while under investigation.

“This young lady’s to be punished,” Tomko said. “She should not be punished for being the only one to be found guilty.”

McRae still has a lot of life ahead of her, he said, and deserved the chance to one day reenter society.