TLDR
Pennsylvania prosecutors charged 29-year-old Robert Tatum with voluntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the fatal shooting of his pregnant 18-year-old girlfriend, Lemmarra Bradshaw, after an argument in a Philadelphia apartment, according to court records and local reporting.
A 29-year-old man is facing homicide-related charges after his pregnant 18-year-old girlfriend was shot during an argument inside a Philadelphia apartment. What happened in that room, and why, is now the focus of a case that combines domestic violence, jealousy, and disputed self-defense claims.
According to court records reviewed by Law & Crime, Tatum is charged in Philadelphia County with voluntary manslaughter in Bradshaw’s death and with recklessly endangering another person. Police say the shooting occurred on the 7000 block of Langdon Street in the city’s Rhawnhurst neighborhood.
Conflicting Accounts of the Argument Before the Shooting
Law & Crime, citing local station WPVI, reports that investigators say shots were fired during an argument that included a dispute over a hamster Bradshaw’s mother had recently given her. Relatives say the couple’s relationship had become increasingly volatile, with frequent arguments and prior violence.
Bradshaw’s aunt told WPVI that Tatum had punched Bradshaw in the face about two weeks earlier, describing him as controlling and jealous. She said, “He’s always in a jealous rage,” and alleged that underlying tension about infidelity, not only the pet, fueled the confrontation before the shooting.
Self-Defense Claim and Criminal Charges
According to Law & Crime’s account of the case, Tatum told investigators that Bradshaw approached him with a knife and a screwdriver, and that he shot her in response. That version has not been tested in court, and prosecutors have not publicly detailed the physical evidence supporting or contradicting his statement.
Tatum is charged with voluntary manslaughter, a crime that in Pennsylvania generally covers intentional killings carried out in the heat of passion or under an unreasonable belief in the need for self-defense. He also faces a count of recklessly endangering another person. He was arrested and given a preliminary arraignment, and he is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing on March 30th.
Family Grief and Domestic Violence Context
Bradshaw was 18 and pregnant with her second child. In an online obituary, her family wrote that police have described her killing as an act of domestic violence and that the person believed responsible has been taken into custody. The obituary notes that her death, and that of her unborn baby, has devastated relatives and the wider community.
Bradshaw’s mother, Michelle Adekola, told WPVI that she is struggling to understand how a conflict between intimate partners ended in her daughter’s death. “She was carrying your baby, you should have more sympathy towards her. I don’t understand that,” Adekola said, adding that she now feels she was unable to protect her daughter.
The criminal case against Tatum is in its early stages, and he has not entered a plea in a trial court or been convicted of any offense in this shooting. Whether a judge finds sufficient evidence to move the case forward, and how the court weighs his account against the family’s allegations of abuse, will determine the next phase of the prosecution.
