A man was sentenced on Tuesday to serve life in prison for fatally shooting a 12-year-old girl in Baltimore because he had been upset with her mother.

Omar Passmore stood while handcuffed and shackled and gazed down at the table as he pleaded guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to first-degree murder and use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence for killing Breaunna Cormley on July 19, 2024, inside a home on North Kenwood Avenue near Jefferson Street in McElderry Park. He will be eligible for parole.

Passmore, 29, of Windsor Mill, declined to address the court before sentencing.

“There is nothing redeemable about a person who would intentionally take the life of an innocent child,” Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said in a statement. “This defendant has demonstrated a complete lack of humanity, morals, and conscience by using the murder of a young girl as a tool of punishment against her mother.”

“As the City’s top prosecutor, it is indisputable to me that he deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars,” he added. “As a father, my heart knows he deserves much worse.”

Bates said he’s thankful that family members were spared from having to testify at trial.

Baltimore Police found Cormley on the first floor of the home with what they described as “obvious gunshot wounds.”

At the scene, medics pronounced her dead.

The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that her cause of death was two close-range gunshot wounds to the head and neck. The manner of death was homicide.

Witnesses heard yelling coming from inside the house, and they identified Passmore as the suspect. He sat on the front steps of the home after the shooting before taking off.

When Passmore was taken into custody two days later, he told investigators that he shot and killed the girl to hurt her mother, with whom he has a different child. She had obtained a protective order against him.

Passmore had a backpack that contained a loaded .380-caliber handgun, which law enforcement tied to the shooting.

Loved ones remembered Cormley as a reserved but loving child who liked to stay home and spend time with her family. She was a student at National Academy Foundation.

Assistant State’s Attorney Victoria Yeager read a joint statement on behalf of Breaunna Cormley’s mother, Te’Shauna Cormley, and grandmother, Trina Baker, who expressed how much the girl was loved.

“We truly have no words for Mr. Passmore,” the statement read.

The lead investigator, Detective Ryan Diener, sat in the first row of the courtroom gallery.

The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office initially sought life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“The court does extend condolences to both families,” Circuit Judge Kimberly C. McBride said.

Following the hearing, Assistant Public Defender Jason Rodriguez, Passmore’s attorney, declined to comment.

Safe Streets, the city’s flagship anti-violence program, helped organize a vigil after the murder. And more than 50 community members gathered to honor the girl’s memory.