‘I'm Feeling Lost': Mom Speaks Out After 2-Year-Old Girl Fatally Shot Herself in Pompano Beach

A mother's worst nightmare became a reality when a two-year-old girl found a gun and shot herself inside a Pompano Beach home over the weekend.

"I'm feeling lost. I'm feeling hurt," said Starr West, the child's mother.

West's daughter Mylia Mombranche died Saturday when authorities said she found a loaded weapon and shot herself.

"I received a phone call saying that my daughter had shot herself in the chest," said West.

West lost custody of Mombranche last year after an arrest for petty theft. The child was living with her aunt in Pompano Beach while West said she worked to regain custody.

Mombranche's uncle, Luis Appollon, allegedly brought a loaded gun into the apartment. The 2-year-old somehow found the weapon and pulled the trigger.

Details from his arrest report revealed Appollon hid his 9mm gun under the cushion of the living room couch the night before. While he was lying on the couch with his niece, he heard a gunshot and saw the toddler was shot. Appollon believed she got up under the couch and somehow got the firearm to discharge.

West says she never thought Appollon would bring a weapon into the house.

"I'm angry," West said. "I have a lot of mixed emotions."

Broward Sheriff's Office deputies charged Appollon with manslaughter for allegedly leaving the gun unsecured. He bonded out of jail Monday.

"I can't hug her," said West. "I can't do anything with her now."

Now she's overwhelmed planning a funeral and burial for her daughter.

"It's been horrible," said West. "I sleep with her picture."

As West was working to regain custody of her daughter, she said she was just one month away from getting her back.

"I had one month," West said. "I've done all the case plans. I've done everything, and I had one month.

Deputies with BSO's Child Protective Unit are actively investigating this case in Pompano Beach.