A Pennsylvania man is accused of murdering his pregnant teenage girlfriend following a fight over a gifted hamster and cheating allegations.
Robert Tatum, 29, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Lemmarra Bradshaw, according to documents. He also has been charged with recklessly endangering another person.
Tatum and Bradshaw were on the 7000 block of Langdon Street in the Rhawnhurst neighborhood of Philadelphia on Monday night, Bradshaw was pregnant with her second child, and the couple had been fighting on several occasions in the days leading up to the fatal shooting.
"He punched her in her face like two weeks ago, and in less than 24 hours, Lemmarra went back to him. He manipulated her," Bradshaw's aunt said. "He's always in a jealous rage."
On Monday night, the couple were reportedly fighting over a hamster that Bradshaw's mother, Michelle Adekola, had recently given to her. However, there was apparently another reason for tension between the pair – about Tatum's alleged infidelity, according to Bradshaw's aunt.
"He was cheating on her, and Lemmarra is the kind of person, she'll say, 'If you're gonna do it, I'm gonna do it too,'" the aunt said.
Tatum claimed Bradshaw approached him with a knife and a screwdriver, and that was when he shot her. He was arrested on Monday, court records show. The defendant appeared in court for a preliminary arraignment on Wednesday and is due to reappear for a preliminary hearing on March 30.
