Monroeville parents whose 5-year-old killed younger sibling get probation, house arrest

The parents of a 5-year-old Monroeville boy who shot and killed his 3-year-old sister in 2021 were sentenced to probation on Tuesday.

Martaz Colvin, 31, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person, and Brea Sanders, 29, who pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering another person were sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Randal B. Todd.

Colvin must serve six years of probation with the first year on electronic home monitoring. Sanders must serve four years of probation.

Both also were ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.

A criminal complaint filed in the case said Monroeville police were called to an apartment in Cambridge Square just after 9 p.m. March 26, 2021, for a child that had been shot.

When they arrived, they found Braya Sanders, 3, with a gunshot wound to the head. She was taken to a local hospital and died a short time later.

Brea Sanders told police that she and Colvin had been moving furniture that evening and had taken a break when they heard a loud bang.

Their 5-year-old son then ran to his bedroom saying, “No, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” police said.

They found Braya, called 911 and started CPR.

“That day is going to haunt (Colvin) and his family for the rest of their lives,” Colvin’s defense attorney Lee Rothman told the court.

Related:

• 3.27.2021. Police: 3-year-old Monroeville girl dead in apparent accidental shooting

When police arrived, Brea Sanders told them there were two shotguns and three pistols in the apartment. The shotguns were kept on each side of the bed, but were empty.

Colvin had placed a handgun in a cabinet above the refrigerator that evening as he got ready to make chicken stir fry for dinner. He didn’t normally keep it there.

Sanders told police she believed the kids put the dining room chair up against the fridge to get the gun.

Colvin told police that the magazines in the guns were loaded, but there was not a bullet in the chamber in any of the handguns.

When investigators asked Colvin if he thought his son could have chambered a round, he responded, “Yes, sir, I’ve seen him do it.”

Colvin told police his son is at a stage where he likes guns.

“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,” Colvin said, according to the criminal complaint.

The shotguns were not loaded, Colvin said, but the ammunition for them was kept in a dresser drawer in the parents’ bedroom.

“None of the five weapons or ammunition were secured in the residence,” police said.

According to the investigation, the bullet that was fired passed through the couple’s apartment into the one directly across the hall, where it was recovered on the floor in front of the refrigerator.

Three children, ages 7, 5 and 2, lived there at the time and had just been playing in the area where the bullet passed through, police said.