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Kensington dad pleads guilty to murder in accidental shooting of daughter, 4

Maurice Phillips was playing with his .45-caliber pistol and aimed it at the TV. The gun fired and killed daughter Tahirah. Sentencing is Jan. 5.

Maurice Phillips, 31, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the April 16, 2016 accidental shooting of daughter Tahira, 4.
Maurice Phillips, 31, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the April 16, 2016 accidental shooting of daughter Tahira, 4.Read morePhiladelphia Police

An intellectually disabled Kensington man pleaded guilty Friday to third-degree murder in the accidental shooting of his 4-year-old daughter, who had been watching a television cartoon with her siblings.

On April 16, 2016, Maurice Phillips, 31, was playing with his .45-caliber pistol and aimed it at the television, on which was showing SpongeBob SquarePants. The gun fired and the shot hit Tahirah Phillips in the head.

Phillips entered an open guilty plea – meaning there was no agreement on his sentence – to homicide and 16 other counts including child endangerment, a weapons count, simple assault, tampering with evidence, and reckless endangerment.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Diana L. Anhalt set sentencing for Jan. 5.

After the hearing, defense attorney Stephanie Fennell called the case a "heartbreaking, tragic accident."

Fennell's co-counsel, Francis Carmen, said Phillips was "incredibly remorseful about an accident that killed his daughter. Today, he accepted responsibility. That's the first step."

Carmen said Phillips is legally disabled and his intellectual disability puts him in the lower half of 1 percentile of the population.

"He actually was a devoted father who spent all the time at home with his children," Carmen said.

Carmen said Phillips bought the pistol legally to protect his family at home.

Assistant District Attorney Gwenn Cujdik said the shooting took place at 2:25 p.m. inside Phillips' house in the 200 block of East Mayfield Street.

The mother of the seven children was visiting a neighbor and Phillips was home with them, Cujdik said. The two youngest, 7 months and 1 year old, were sleeping. The others, ages 13, 10, 5, 4, and 3, were watching TV with Phillips in an upstairs bedroom.

After the shooting, Phillips took Tahirah to another bedroom and instructed the other children to tell police that their 5-year-old sister had shot Tahirah, Cujdik said.

Phillips wiped blood on the 5-year-old girl and punched her in the face when she began crying, the prosecutor said.

Cujdik said that if the case had gone to trial, all four of the children with Tahirah would have testified that Phillips had shot her. The prosecutor said Phillips' DNA was on the weapon and "the safety lock for the gun was secured to the banister from the first to the second floor."

No one called 911 until the children's mother got home and saw Tahirah's body.

Cujdik said Phillips left the house, got on his bicycle, and rode to try to visit his two sisters before going to the 24th Police District and surrendering.