A southern Minnesota man whose gun was used by a 4-year-old boy who fatally shot his little brother won’t serve jail time under a plea deal reached Monday.
Colton D. Mammenga, 33, of Welcome agreed to plead guilty in Martin County to felony endangerment of a child in connection with the Oct. 15 shooting of 2-year-old Matthew Alshaikhnasser, which occurred in a moving pickup truck.
The plea deal calls for Mammenga to receive no jail time and receive a stay of adjudication, meaning the conviction would come off his criminal record if he abides by the terms of his probation. Those terms would include speaking at events about the negligent storage of guns.
Also as part of the agreement, prosecutors said they will dismiss manslaughter charges, the most serious of the counts, and a negligent firearms storage count.
Judge Michael Trushenski must still sign off on the deal at sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.
At the time of the shooting, Mammenga was in the pickup truck with the two boys and their mother, who was in a relationship with Mammenga.
A deputy found the pickup outside Fairmont, Minn., and pulled it over to the shoulder, the criminal complaint read. Mammenga got out of the vehicle holding Matthew, who had a gunshot wound to the top of his head, the complaint continued.
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, the complaint read.
