New Year’s Day Shooter Gets Time For Murdering Grandmother Reading Bible In Hyattsville Home

Bowie resident Sammie Warren, 27, has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for killing 56-year-old Filomena Vasquez in Hyattsville on New Year’s Day while she was preparing to host a sermon on the radio in 2020.

The murder was reported at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2020 in the 7400 block of Barnum Street in Hyattsville.

Upon arrival, officers found Vasquez suffering from a gunshot wound, and she was pronounced dead in her kitchen. Investigators later found 14 shell casings in front of the home with several bullet holes in the window near where she was shot.

According to police, the fatal shooting was over an incident involving Vasquez’s son and Warren, who purchased a car from him.

Prosecutors said that Warren bought the used car from the son and was attempting to get his money back after it stopped working within hours of the purchase. When he refused to refund the cash, Warren began making threats, leading to the fateful shooting.

“He went to Filomena’s house and shot it up over a car,” Assistant State’s Attorney Breanna Bush said. “This is the type of gun-wielding, emotional person (Warren) is. He goes from zero to 100 using deadly violence.”

Warren was convicted earlier this year of:

• Second-degree murder;
• Use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence;
• Illegal possession of a regulated firearm.

He was sentenced to 65 years in prison with all but 50 suspended.

“No one anticipates that a quiet New Year’s Day at home could tragically end in loss of live,” Braveboy stated. “Vasquez was in the privacy of her home, simply reading her Bible when this happened, which is heartbreaking.”

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