A 14-year-old Omaha girl knew where her father kept his gun, a prosecutor said Wednesday, so she got it and shot him in the back of the head as he slept on a mattress.
The girl, Sammaria Cunegin, told friends she was tired of being abused, Assistant Douglas County Attorney Kati Kilcoin said at the girl’s juvenile court hearing.
Her father, Montrel Williams, 48, was found slain Saturday at a home near 41st Street and Bedford Avenue.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said before the hearing that abuse allegations and the girl’s young age — she turns 15 in September — prompted him to file the case in juvenile court.
Kilcoin told Judge Douglas Johnson that detaining Cunegin was warranted, saying she is a danger to others and herself.
Cunegin’s attorney, Assistant Douglas County Public Defender Matt Kraemer, asked that the girl be released to stay with a cousin while awaiting her juvenile court hearing. Johnson denied the request, saying he wanted her to stay with a legal guardian. For now, he decided, she will stay at the Douglas County Youth Center. Johnson said he had found probable cause for her to be held on both counts.
Cunegin has no prior criminal record and is enrolled as a freshman at Northwest High School, Kraemer said.
Williams went by other names and had been convicted of two felonies, Kleine said. At the time of his death, Williams was wanted on a 2017 warrant involving domestic violence.
World-Herald staff writer Alia Conley contributed to this report.
