Lamar Warren pleaded guilty today to killing Tamrah Leonard at a 2009 block party.
Lamar Warren TRENTON -- Sex Money Murder gang member Lamar Warren he pleaded guilty today to killing 13-year-old Tamrah Leonard in 2009 and is expected to receive a 39-year prison sentence.
Warren, 22, is the seventh and final member of the gang to plead guilty in Leonard’s death, which began as an attempt at retaliation against the Gangster Killer Bloods for shooting at a Sex Money Murder member the day before, Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Doris Galuchie said.
Leonard was attending a block party that members of Sex Money Murder decided to shoot up on June 7, 2009. Warren’s brother Keith Warren drove him and fellow gang member Bernard Baines to the party, where Lamar Warren and Baines opened fire into the crowd. A bullet from Warren’s gun struck and killed Leonard, Galuchie said.
Warren said in court today that at the time of the shooting it was not his intention to hit anybody as he fired several shots into the crowd, but that he did not care if he did.
When asked by Galuchie why he was in the car with a loaded weapon that day, Warren said, “To go shoot up the area.”
The plea deal recommends that Superior Court Judge Mark Fleming sentence Warren to 30 years for aggravated manslaughter and nine years for weapons possession. Warren will have to serve at least 30 years before he is eligible for parole if the judge follows the terms of the deal.
Warren is scheduled to be sentenced in October, and the other six gang members still face sentencing.
Contact Brendan McGrath at (609) 989-5731 or at bmcgrath@njtimes.com.
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