FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — A Palm Coast man who shot and killed an 18-month-old while posing with a gun for a social media picture in 2023 was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday.

In February, C.J. Nelson pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a firearm in the death of an 18-month-old. The child was playing in the hallway with her mother when the bullet struck her through a wall and killed her, the Seventh Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office said.

The child, Ja’liya Allen, was Nelson’s niece.

Officers were called to the Ranwood Lane home just before midnight Sept. 3, 2023, and found several people in the yard, Flagler County Rick Staly said at the time. One of those people were carrying Ja’liya. She was rushed to the hospital where she died.

“The child’s mother was going to take a shower, but it was too hot,” Staly said at a 2023 press conference. “The mother played with her daughter as she waited for the water to cool down and during this mother-daughter playtime, a shot was fired that went through a bedroom wall and struck little Ja’liyah in the head.”

Staly said Nelson was showing off the gun before the shooting and was high on marijuana. Nelson’s DNA and fingerprints were found on the gun, according to Staly, who accused Nelson of “trying to be a punk gangster.”

When Nelson was initially arrested, he was on probation for improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon and possession of cannabis less than 20 grams. 

“The mother witnessed her daughter’s death at the hands of the toddler’s uncle and the mother’s brother,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said in a press release. “It is hard to imagine a more heart-wrenching scenario.”