A southern Minnesota man is facing felony charges following an incident in which a 4-year-old boy picked up the man's handgun and fatally shot his 2-year-old brother.
Colton Mammenga, 33, of Welcome, was charged with manslaughter and felony endangerment of a child on Thursday in Martin County District Court.
At the time of the Oct. 15 shooting, Mammenga was in a moving pickup truck with the two boys and their mother, who was in a relationship with Mammenga. Martin County deputies were called to the scene around 10:15 a.m., according to the criminal complaint.
A deputy found the pickup outside Fairmont and pulled it over to the shoulder, the complaint says. Mammenga got out of the vehicle holding the child who was shot, later identified as Matthew Alshaikhnasser.
The boy had a wound on the top of his head and was bleeding, the complaint says.
Mammenga performed CPR before an ambulance crew arrived and took over. He told law enforcement the 4-year-old child accidentally shot Matthew while the truck was in motion, and that the gun was still in the back seat with the older child, charges say.
The boys' 26-year-old mother reached into the back seat, grabbed the loaded gun and handed it to a deputy, the complaint says.
The injured boy was airlifted to a Rochester hospital and died two days later.
