Baltimore rapper Baby K has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempted murder for his role in a 2023 attempted murder on a Prince George’s County school bus.

The stiff sentence is controversial because Baby K is only 16 years old.

The grim details were recounted. Baby K, who was 14 at the time, along with two associates, confronted another 14-year-old on the bus, aiming to execute a deadly plan.

Two teenagers restrained the victim while Baby K attempted to fire a gun three times, but technical failures spared the intended target’s life.

He pleaded guilty to various charges, including attempted first-degree murder, and faced the court’s strictest penalty.

“Anybody that saw the video and saw how close we came to losing a life on a public school bus, I’m sure was horrified, I’m sure that they were frightened when they saw this….I hope that this sentence brings some measure of peace and some measure of closure to the victims as well as the community,” Deputy Chief James McCreery said during a press conference.

Judge Michael Whelan emphasized Baby K’s past transgressions and the premeditated nature of the crime as pivotal factors in the sentencing.

Despite previous engagements with the juvenile justice system and orders for mental health and substance counseling, the teen had repeatedly failed to comply, which further justified the judge’s decision to try him as an adult.

The decision to sentence him as an adult also stemmed from a belief that the juvenile system had been ineffective in rehabilitating him.

“25 years—that is a significant sentence; it’s top of the guidelines and it was appropriate in this case because of the planning, the deliberation, the execution of what he wanted, which was to murder a child,” State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy added.