photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Bishop I. Mendoza is pictured at his plea hearing on Friday, April 22, 2022, in Douglas County District Court. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a 2-year-old.

Updated at 2:15 p.m. Friday

A Lawrence man was convicted Friday of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the unintentional shooting of a toddler.

The man, Bishop I. Mendoza, 21, appeared in Douglas County District Court before Judge Kay Huff, where he pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and one count of child endangerment. The charges came after Mendoza’s cousin, Legend King, age 2, was found shot on Sept. 17 in the 1500 block of Wedgewood Drive.

The sound of weeping filled the courtroom, and Mendoza could be seen wiping away tears as Huff accepted his plea.

“It is a sad day for everyone in this courtroom as I can see and hear,” Huff said.

What exactly transpired the day of the shooting is still not entirely clear, but Senior Assistant District Attorney Seth Brackman told the court Friday that the factual basis for the plea was the following: Mendoza was sleeping on a couch at his grandmother’s house that morning with a stolen gun that was ‘locked and loaded’ tucked into the couch cushions. Mendoza woke to the sound of a gunshot and saw that his 2-year-old cousin was covered in blood. Mendoza’s mother was also asleep in the house after working an overnight shift. Mendoza went to the mother’s bedroom and told her the child had been shot. She then called 911 saying “my baby has been shot.”

The grandmother had previously told Mendoza that guns were forbidden in her home, Brackman said.

When police arrived, Mendoza and a 4-year-old child who was in the home were on the porch, and Mendoza pointed police to a gun on a stump in the yard, Brackman said.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Bishop I. Mendoza listens as his defense attorney, Angela Keck, outlines a plea agreement to Judge Kay Huff that Mendoza accepted on April 22, 2022. Mendoza pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter for the shooting death of a toddler.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, police responded to the shooting around 10:45 a.m. When officers arrived they found a critically injured 2-year-old, according to Lt. David Ernst of the Lawrence Police Department.

The child was taken to LMH Health but was pronounced dead by 2 p.m. that day, Ernst said.

Early in the investigation, police said the shooting appeared to be an accident.

Mendoza was arrested on Sept. 24 and was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter, two counts of aggravated endangering a child and one count of theft of a firearm. The endangerment charges were for the child who was shot and the 4-year-old who was in the home.

The theft charge accused Mendoza of stealing a firearm that belonged to someone else. The firearm is listed as a Glock 23 Gen4 semi-automatic handgun.

One count of child endangerment and the gun charge were dropped as part of the plea deal Friday.

Mendoza bonded out of jail on Sept. 25, 2021, after posting a $25,000 bond, according to court records.

Mendoza, who was represented by attorney Angela Keck, has no prior convictions in Douglas County, according to court records. Sentencing has been scheduled for 3 p.m. June 7. Huff said Friday that he could face 31 to 136 months for involuntary manslaughter and five to six months for the endangerment charge.

Editor’s note: This story has been revised to clarify that Bishop Mendoza’s mother, not his grandmother, was home at the time of the shooting.