A Minnesota man was charged Thursday after a four-year-old boy allegedly fatally shot his two-year-old brother in a moving pickup truck, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Police charged Colton Mammenga, 33, with manslaughter and felony child endangerment following the Oct. 15 incident, according to court records cited by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Mammenga, the two boys and their mother were all in a moving truck when the incident occurred, according to the Tribune. Mammenga was reportedly in a relationship with the boys’ unnamed mother. Martin County deputies arrived at the scene at around 10:15 a.m. Mammenga was holding the injured child, identified as Matthew Alshaikhnasser, when police arrived. The little boy had sustained an injury to the top of his head, per the outlet.
A southern Minnesota man is facing felony charges after a 4-year-old boy picked up the man’s handgun and fatally shot his 2-year-old brother. https://t.co/0Gec7UDNb3
— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) October 27, 2023
The injured child was later airlifted to a Rochester hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries two days after the incident, according to the Tribune.
The four-year-old informed a deputy he retrieved the gun from the front seat when he and his brother were left unattended in the truck, the outlet reported. Mammenga informed police he had put his gun in the side of the passenger door before leaving the vehicle.
Upon discovery, deputies found multiple firearms and ammunition in the vehicle, including a baggie full of 9mm rounds near the four-year-old’s seat, according to the Tribune. (RELATED: ‘I Shot That B**** Dead’: 6-Year-Old Who Allegedly Shot Teacher Reportedly Gloated Afterwards)
“We are still in mourning. This was a pure freak accident. We love our Mattie,” the 26-year-old mother told the Tribune.