WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) – A memorial in the neighborhood where a shooting happened Friday night, is in honor of a one-year-old girl, who lost her life due to gunfire.
“I was about ready to cry,” says neighbor Amanda Willis. “Whenever I see the kids, I cry. My kids were once young like that.”‘
Prosecutors have charged the girl’s father, 25-year-old Michael Tejeda, with first-degree murder in the commission of a felony.
When police arrived they found the 1-year-old with a gunshot wound to her upper body, she died at the hospital. Authorities took another child in the home into protective custody.
Police will not confirm who fired the gun that killed the little girl.
Criminal defense attorney Dan Monnat explains the charge against the girl’s father is different from a typical murder charge.
“In a felony murder situation, the need to prove a specific mental state is supplanted by evidence that the accused was committing, attempting to commit, or fleeing from an inherently dangerous felony. What is an inherently dangerous felony? Well, all of them are listed in the law,” Monnat said.
Under state statute, ‘aggravated endangering a child’ is listed as one of the ‘inherently dangerous felonies.’ Tejeda is charged with two counts of aggravated child endangerment that resulted in the girl’s death.
Monnat said that this statute is in place to hold someone accountable for a wrongful death.
“The person did intend to participate in an inherently dangerous felony, which itself breeds the possibility of death, and because the person has chosen to participate in that dangerous felony, it is thought to be just that that person bears responsibility for any death that occurs by the creation of an inherently dangerous situation,” Monnat said.
Tejeda’s being held in the Sedgwick County Jail on $500,000 bond.
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