An Upper Darby man convicted this year on aggravated assault and related charges for a 2025 beating and shooting incident in the township was sentenced to 26-52 years in state prison.
Michael Warren, 36, of the 7000 block of Clover Lane was arrested with his sisters Shanay and Shanika Warren, following the Aug. 23 altercation outside the Waterford Inn in the 6800 block of Ludlow Street.
The sisters pleaded to simple assault charges in March and were each sentenced to time served to 23 months with orders to stay away from the victim.
Michael Warren, who fired the gun, was convicted following a jury trial in June of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited and carrying a firearm without a license. He was acquitted on a charge of firing into an occupied structure.
According to police:
Officers were dispatched shortly before 2:30 a.m. for a report of a fight. They recovered two 9 mm fired cartridge casings in the middle of Ludlow Street at the intersection with Heather Road and another casing on the sidewalk.
A wig and pieces of women’s jewelry were found near the bar door. A bullet hole was discovered in the front window of a nearby apartment that was occupied by a couple with a child. That bullet had passed through the living room wall and landed on the kitchen floor.
Surveillance footage showed the victim inside the bar calling a friend for a ride and then walking outside with the bartenders as they were locking up for the night. She was attacked by the defendants when she stepped outside.
The Warren sisters pulled and punched at the victim while other bar patrons attempted to stop the assault.
Michael Warren appeared to have a heavy object in his front right pocket consistent with a firearm.
The victim identified Michael Warren to police as her ex-boyfriend and the women as his sisters. She said the sisters ripped off her wig and kicked and punched her, and her cellphone was smacked out of her hand.
The victim ran across the street and jumped into a friend’s vehicle. The sisters refused to let her close the doors as they continued to punch her.
Warren fired at the fleeing vehicle.
Assistant District Attorney Kate Spillan said at sentencing that the victim had been terrorized by Warren for 20 years, she said, including threats to kill her if she left him and attempts to intimidate the victim not to testify or have others do so.
She said Warren had been given the benefit of lenient sentences again and again for violent crimes since he was a teenager. The crimes escalated from there.
Defense attorney Ben McCready said there was a lot that his client could not change, but a forensic report had found he could benefit from education and training while incarcerated.
He noted no one was injured by the gunfire and said Warren suffered a stroke while in jail. McCready added that Warren grew up with abuse and drug use at home.
But Spillan said Warren had given wildly different answers in the defense report than he did in an earlier pre-sentence investigation report. In the earlier interview, Spillan said Warren reported having a happy childhood and close family ties. She argued Warren was trying to demonstrate that he can be rehabilitated despite all prior evidence to the contrary and asked for a total sentence of 30-60 years.
“He has never demonstrated an ounce of remorse for this crime or for any of his other crimes,” she said. “He has been given lenient sentences his entire life, but at this point in time, there’s no other option.”
Warren labored to get out words but did apologize for wasting the court’s time and said he understood the seriousness of the charges.
Common Pleas Court Judge Margaret Amoroso said was disturbed by Warren’s criminal record and the time between his release for the prior shooting and this incident.
“I have rarely seen a more obvious escalation of violence and an inability to accept responsibility,” she said.
In addition to prison time, Warren was ordered to stay away from the victim, participate in anger management and provide a DNA sample to state police. He is not eligible for early release.