Wichita mother asks judge for mercy after toddler killed by gun father left out
India Cunningham still has no words to describe the pain of losing her 1-year-old daughter to an accidental shooting at their south Wichita home last year.
But she isn’t the only parent grieving, and a long prison sentence will only add to her family’s suffering, she told a Sedgwick County judge last week.
Her daughters’ father, Michael Tejeda, knew he wasn’t supposed to own or possess any weapons because a prior felony conviction barred him.
But he made a heartbreaking mistake, she said, when he left the gun in the living room where their 3-year-old could reach it as he changed his clothes.
Within moments, the toddler picked up the gun and 21-month-old Mya Tejeda was gone, killed by a bullet that struck her head.
“She lit up any room she entered, and her joy and laughter was so contagious,” Cunningham said, sobbing as she remembered her "beautiful, sweet, radiant baby girl.”
“Michael was and remains a kind, gentle man who loves his girls with his entire heart,” she told the judge.
“I ask that justice be balanced with mercy. … No one walked away from that day unchanged.”
Cunningham’s comments came shortly before Sedgwick County District Judge Chrystal Krier announced that she was sending Tejeda to prison for nearly 20 years in connection with Mya’s death on Feb. 28, 2025. Tejeda, 26, pleaded guilty in May to second-degree murder, aggravated child endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
The shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. at the family’s home in the 2200 block of South Santa Fe, near Pawnee and Broadway.
Krier said she was following sentencing recommendations in Tejeda’s plea agreement, not only because she believes in doing so but also because the lawyers who negotiated his plea deal “know more about this case than I will ever know.”
“I am very sorry for all of your losses. … There are no winners at all in this case,” the judge told family members who packed her courtroom gallery.
To Tejeda, who hung his head and shed silent tears throughout the hearing, Krier said: “My heart goes out to you and the pain that you must be going through, knowing that your mistake cost you your daughter’s life.”
Defense lawyer Sylvia Penner said that Tejeda didn’t purposely set out to harm his children when he left his gun unattended on a fireplace at their home. But he ignored the rules prohibiting him from having it, and now will carry the “unbearable grief” of his daughter’s death with him “until his final breath,” she said.
“He knew that he was not allowed to have a firearm. He did so anyway. … That was his fault,” Penner said.
“He is deeply sorry for what happened.”
When it was his turn to speak, Tejeda didn’t ask for leniency or make any excuses for his actions.
He simply stood, a grief-stricken man, and apologized to society and his family for not being a better father.
“I am sorry I have failed you all. … I hope that one day that you all will be able to forgive me.”
