Minnesota Man Sentenced For Shooting That Killed His Young Son

Fairmont, MN (KROC-AM News) - The father of a two-year-old boy who was fatally shot by his four-year-old brother along the southern Minnesota highway last fall has been sentenced for a felony conviction stemming from the tragedy.

34-year-old Colton Mammenga of Welcome was charged last year with two counts of second-degree manslaughter, felony child endangerment, and a gross misdemeanor charge of negligent storage of firearms. According to the criminal complaint, he was accused of leaving a loaded handgun in a storage pocket in the passenger side door of his family's pickup truck.

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The court document says the four-year-old apparently found the gun while Mammenga was away from the vehicle and was handling it when it discharged and the bullet struck his two-year-old brother. The deadly incident occurred on the morning of October 15 while Mammenga, the mother of the children, and the two boys were traveling on Highway near the family's home in the Fairmont area.

The charges say Mammenga told investigators that he "heard a loud pop and looked into the back seat and saw blood coming down from the two-year-old's forehead. He also stated that, as soon as the vehicle stopped, he jumped into the back seat, grabbed his son, and began performing CPR.

The criminal complaint alleged that Mammenga had placed the weapon in the storage pocket inside the vehicle after getting into the pickup, and then left it unattended while he and the children's mother went back into their home to grab a few items before driving away.

Under the terms of a plea agreement that was finalized in July, Mammenga admitted to the felony child endangerment charge in exchange for the dismissal of the other charges.

He was sentenced Friday to three months in jail with the possibility of work-release. It was also given a stayed 18 month prison sentence and was placed on supervised probation for five years. His sentence also includes 500 hours of community work service involving speaking engagements about gun safety.