Baltimore woman sentenced to 35 years in deadly shooting captured in viral video

The cellphone video starts with Unique Thorne chasing after Shy’Keema Turner on East Preston Street in Baltimore with a gun.

“Yeah!” an onlooker shouts. “Shoot her!”

As Turner reaches Greenmount Avenue, Thorne raises the weapon and shoots her one time in the back. She immediately drops to the ground.

Turner was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital and was later pronounced dead. She was 31.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Kimberly C. McBride on Tuesday sentenced Thorne, 27, of Johnston Square, to 35 years in prison and five years’ supervised probation, describing the killing as a senseless and needless tragedy.

“I didn’t mean for any of this happen,” Thorne told McBride. “I reacted to the situation without thinking.”

Baltimore Police interviewed Thorne after the deadly shooting on March 18, 2025. She said Turner used a knife to stab her in the back.

Detectives noticed a small wound consistent with being poked by a sharp object.

Next, Thorne told investigators, she went inside, retrieved her gun and shot Turner because she continued to swing the knife.

Police released Thorne later that day and told her to remain in Maryland. But she left the state.

The U.S. Marshals Service later arrested Thorne in Massillon, Ohio, and she was extradited to face prosecution.

Thorne pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence. As part of a plea agreement, she faced a sentence of between 30 and 40 years in prison.

Assistant State’s Attorney Brent Weinberg played the cellphone video as well as surveillance footage that captured a different angle of the fatal shooting.

“Your honor, this is a case about vigilantism, essentially,” Weinberg said. “There’s no justice done on this day.”

Turner, he said, showed up to fight Thorne and “things got out of hand.” But Weinberg said Thorne acted as “judge, jury and executioner.”

Weinberg pushed for the maximum sentence: 40 years in prison.

Saleema Turner, Shy’Keema Turner’s mother, was among several family members who wore white T-shirts with her daughter’s picture on the front that read, “Justice For Keema.”

“I just ask for the most that the court can do,” she said. “I can’t get my baby back.”

John Hassett, Thorne’s attorney, described his client as a peaceful and good-natured person who lived what he called an “exemplary life.”

Turner, he said, came to his client’s home on multiple occasions for reasons that are unclear. Hassett said Thorne did not know Turner and just snapped.

“This is still a blur in her brain,” Hassett said. “She accepts, 100%, without reservation, responsibility in this case.”

Hassett said his client did not try to flee but instead went to stay with family out of state because she had received threats. He requested a sentence of 30 years in prison.

Unique Thorne’s husband, Deontay Thorne, who had witnessed the shooting, implored the judge to try to understand the situation.

He said he’s been left to raise their 1-year-old son on his own.

“I just want my wife back,” he said. “That’s all I’m asking.”

He said his wife is sincerely remorseful for her actions.