Mom sentenced to life after 2-year-old picks up gun and fatally shoots 4-year-old sister

TOPEKA, Kan. (TCN) -- A 24-year-old woman must spend at least the next 25 years in prison after she was found guilty of leaving a loaded handgun in the open that her 2-year-old son accessed and used to accidentally shoot and kill his sister.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports a judge sentenced Mariann Belair to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for first-degree murder and six months for aggravated endangering of a child for the death of Lawrencia Perez-Belair.

According to Belair’s arrest affidavit, on Oct. 14 at 12:03 p.m., Belair called 911, said her child had been shot, and claimed she "did not know where the gun came from." Police and other first responders arrived at her home and found Belair holding her daughter. The girl was pronounced dead at 12:39 p.m. The medical examiner determined Perez-Belair died from a gunshot wound that went through her lower right back and exited through her left chest.

Investigators obtained a warrant to search Belair’s home and found a "large amount of blood" in the living room and a bullet hole in a couch cushion. There was reportedly a trail of blood through the living room, kitchen, and outside the back door. While looking through the residence, they located a Sig Sauer P226 9 mm handgun with a spent shell casing still in the chamber, as well as a bag of meth that had blood on it. The affidavit says evidence showed "that there was methamphetamine sales and methamphetamine use during the shooting as well."

Ring doorbell footage reportedly captured the sound of a gunshot at 12:01 p.m. followed by children screaming. About 35 seconds later, Belair reportedly yelled, "Did you touch that?"

The affidavit says Belair "placed her children in a dangerous situation by leaving the Sig Sauer P226 semi-automatic handgun on the couch where her children had access to it."

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, Belair said during her trial that she usually left her gun in her diaper bag, but she took it out to double check the contents of the bag before she went to get food. Perez-Belair reportedly asked her mother for a photo of her and her brother, which "distracted" Belair. The girl’s 2-year-old brother took the gun and fired it.

Attorneys argued the gun had been left out on the couch for over 10 minutes.