LONG PRAIRIE -- A former Clarissa man has been sentenced to a year in a county jail for the shooting death of his girlfriend and the mother of their child.

Thirty-three-year-old Tyler Slagerman pleaded guilty in February to one count of second-degree unintentional manslaughter for the February 2017 death of 36-year-old Lacey Kuschel.

Slagerman was sentenced to four years in prison, but a judge stayed that sentence for 10 years and ordered Slagerman to serve a year in the Todd County Jail.  If Slagerman violates terms of his 10-year probation, he could be sent to prison for the four-year term.

According to the criminal complaint, Slagerman called 911 just before 2:00 a.m. to report Kuschel had been accidentally shot when a gun had fallen off the counter and discharged, hitting her in the upper part of her back.

When a sheriff's deputy arrived on the scene, he noticed a lever-action rifle on the ground in the living room. When the deputy entered the bedroom he noticed an infant in the crib and a distraught Slagerman doing chest compressions on the woman who was lying on the bed.

Records show Slagerman told the officer he had been out with friends earlier and had four drinks before returning home at approximately 12:45 a.m. Slagerman said he later grabbed the rifle to go and check out why the dogs were barking, assuming there was a coyote in the yard. Kuschel was holding the baby because it had woke up crying due to the barking dogs.

Slagerman said when he grabbed the rifle from the corner, he turned around fast and headed toward the door. That's when he said the gun went off and hit Kuschel. The baby was not hurt in the incident.

More From AM 1240 WJON