Monroeville parents charged after 5-year-old accidentally shoots and kills 3-year-old sister

The parents of a 3-year-old Monroeville girl who was accidentally shot and killed by her 5-year-old brother are facing criminal charges.

Martaz Colvin, 29, and Brea Sanders, 27, turned themselves in Tuesday just before noon at the Pittsburgh Municipal Court building. Investigators said that, at the time of the shooting, the couple had five firearms in their Cambridge Square apartment but none of them were secured.

According to court documents filed in the case, Colvin is charged with involuntary manslaughter, four counts of endangering the welfare of children and seven counts of recklessly endangering another person.

Sanders is charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of children and four counts of reckless endangerment.

According to a criminal complaint filed against Colvin, Monroeville police were called to the couple’s apartment for a child who had been shot just after 9 p.m. on March 26.

When they arrived, they found the girl with a gunshot wound to the head. Braya Sanders was taken to Forbes Regional Hospital and pronounced dead about two hours later.

Brea Sanders told investigators that she and Colvin were in the bedroom trying to get a Wi-Fi password to work on the television when they heard a loud bang.

“Sanders stated that when she came out, she saw her youngest son running to his bedroom saying, ‘No, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’” the complaint said.

Colvin found Braya lying on the floor by the dining room table. She had been shot. He ran with her to the couple’s bedroom, then returned to the living room, where he started CPR.

Sanders told police that she believed the children put the dining room chair up against the refrigerator to retrieve the gun, which she found on the floor next to the fridge and chair, the complaint said.

Sanders said that the couple kept two shotguns and three pistols in the apartment. The shotguns, she said, are located on each side of the bed, although they are empty, the complaint said. Sanders said she carries a Glock 43 in her purse, which was at the foot of the bed, and that Colvin keeps one pistol under the dresser in the bedroom and another had been placed on top of the refrigerator.

When he was questioned by police, Colvin told investigators that he doesn’t normally keep his gun in the kitchen, but that he was making chicken stir fry and put it in a cabinet above the refrigerator when Sanders got home from work.

Colvin said that while the guns were loaded with bullets in the magazine, none had a round in the chamber.

When investigators asked Colvin if his youngest son could have chambered a live round, the man said, “yes, sir, I’ve seen him do it.”

“Mr. Colvin went on to explain that his youngest son is at a stage where he likes guns, and he said, ‘I ain’t gonna lie, I like guns, so I practice with him sometimes for safety or whatever, and I’ve seen him do it. I’ve shown him how to crack it, never with one in the head, though,’” the complaint said.

Police also found a camouflage-colored backpack in the children’s bedroom that contained two magazines for Glock firearms.