1 November 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Newly released court documents depict what Topeka Police Department (TPD) investigators said were the final moments of four-year-old Lawrencia Perez-Belair before her death.
Lawrencia Perez Belair was shot on Oct. 14 and later died in the hospital from her injuries. Police arrested Mariann Belair, 24, of Topeka that same day. Four days later, Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay told 27 News Belair was charged with several counts, including felony murder.
KSNT 27 News obtained the arrest affidavit the case from the Shawnee County District Court. The affidavit claims Belair put her children in a “dangerous situation” by leaving a gun where her children could get it.
According to the document, officers and first responders were called around noon to the 400 block of Northeast Grattan Street, where they said Belair brought Lawrencia out to them. After a search warrant was granted, police said they found large amounts of blood and a bullet hole in the side of a couch in the living room. Belair told TPD she was helping her sister on the laptop at the time of the shooting.
Police said Belair admitted a handgun was on the couch, but she moved it into a dresser in a different room. A methamphetamine pipe and a bag of what appeared to be less than a gram methamphetamine was also found in the dresser, according to the affidavit. A TPD sergeant found blood on the baggie, and it was later tested and confirmed to be human blood. Police also searched Belair’s phone and said they found she was talking to two separate people around the time of the shooting.
Police recovered a Ring surveillance clip from Belair’s phone with video and audio. Two minutes before the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center is called, gunshots and children screaming are heard. A minute later, the Ring apparently captures Belair yelling “Did you touch that?” twice. The only voices heard on the clip are Belair’s and her three children, according to the affidavit.
Police report Belair put her children in a dangerous situation by leaving a loaded handgun on the couch where her children could grab it. They alleged that blood was found on a baggie of methamphetamine is evidence of methamphetamine sales and use taking place during the shooting.