Man sentenced in stray bullet death of 11-year-old girl

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man who claims full responsibility for the shooting death of an 11-year-old girl receieved his sentence Friday in Jackson County Court.

Aaron Sullivan, 50, of Kansas City, said he pulled the trigger last Fourth of July. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

Sullivan killed Blair Shanahan Lane after he fired a celebratory gun shot at a gathering in Kansas City. Sullivan says that bullet was intended to hit a lake, but instead it traveled through a wooded area, hitting and killing Shanahan Lane.

Michele Shanahan De Moss is Blair's mother and said she is forever changed by her daughter's death.

"We definitely were partners in crime. I think everybody would agree with that," said Shanahan De Moss. "I don't get to make lunch. I don't get her ready for school. I don't make hair appointments."

Shanahan De Moss says she feels robbed.

"A thief came in the night."

Sullivan says he is ready to accept responsibility for Blair's death.

"I did a crime. I've got to do the time," said Sullivan.

Sullivan says he too thinks about Blair every day, and that the gunshot was a bad judgment. He says he immediately turned himself in after learning of her death.

"It was an accident, I wasn't trying to run and hide and lie," said Sullivan.

Blair's family wanted the maximum seven-year sentence, to send a message about the dangers of "celebratory" gun shots.

"A bullet is meant to do two things. To maim and to kill," said Shanahan De Moss.

Along with the prison sentence, the judge ruled the gun that killed Blair must be destroyed.