"There were police in bullet-proof vests everywhere, police cars blocking the street, police tape around my daughter's home," Kiara Ferguson's mother Joanne said.
"I collapsed to the ground. I was screaming 'where's the ambulance? Let me into my daughter' and just wailing."
More than two years later, she continues to be haunted by this scene, which she described as "like a police show in America, not something I ever thought would happen to my little family from Murchison".
Julie Ferguson said her grief was "overwhelming" over the death of her "funny, loyal, hard-working and amazing" sister, who was 19 years her junior.
"The same baby I lovingly held after she came into the world, died by herself on the floor," she said.
The heartbroken loved ones of Ms Ferguson, 27, had statements read to Victoria's Supreme Court in Shepparton on Wednesday as her boyfriend faced a pre-sentence hearing.
The mother-of-two was pregnant with her third child when one of their daughters found their father Adam Winmar's homemade gun inside a couch on April 1, 2023.
Ms Ferguson took the gun from the young girl and went to find Winmar, who was using the toilet at the back of their family home, prosecutors told the court.
She then threw or dropped the firearm near where Winmar was sitting, the gun hit the floor and discharged a single shot, which went into Ms Ferguson's head and killed her.
Winmar pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering life and possessing a firearm as a prohibited person after prosecutors dropped a manslaughter charge on Tuesday.
His barrister John Lavery said prosecutors had "re-assessed the matter" and discontinued the manslaughter charge in the immediate lead-up to Winmar contesting it before a jury.
He argued his client, along with Ms Ferguson's family, had suffered "catastrophic" consequences from his girlfriend's death and as he pleaded for Winmar to be spared jail time.
"He feels his personal, moral responsibility keenly," Mr Lavery said, as he asked for Winmar to be given a corrections order instead of prison.
"He is well aware of the line of reasoning, if he hadn't had that item in the house, the tragic events that followed after that wouldn't have taken place.
"In those circumstances, it's open to the court to extend leniency on the sentence imposed."
Mr Lavery said Winmar had a fascination with firearms and kept the homemade 12-gauge spring "pipe gun" at their family home for protection, as a "solution to his paranoia".
However, prosecutor Jim Shaw said Winmar's case was a serious example of reckless conduct endangering life as he had made the gun and left it lying around while loaded.
"He was reckless as to whether or not it was loaded, he told police he didn't think it was - which demonstrates his cavalier attitude to this gun," he told the court.
"The living room was the place in the house where the children spent a lot of their time. Of all the places to store the firearm, that may well have been the worst."
Mr Shaw said Winmar's offending warranted a prison term with a non-parole period to serve.
The hearing continues.
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