A 2-year-old who allegedly found his dad’s gun in a drawer accidentally shot his eight-months-pregnant mother to death in the family’s Ohio home last week, police said.
Laura Ilg, 31, frantically called 911 after getting hit to report that the toddler had accidentally pulled the trigger and blasted her in the back, WOIO reported.
The severely injured mom, who was 33 weeks pregnant, was found with her little boy in an upstairs bedroom after responding officers had to kick down the front door of the Norwalk home.
She was rushed to Fisher-Titus Medical Center, where doctors performed an emergency caesarean, but the unborn child didn’t survive, Police Chief David Smith said Tuesday.
Ilg died from her gunshot injuries a few hours later.
Police said the firearm, which belongs to Ilg’s husband, Alek Ilg, was usually kept on a nightstand next to the couple’s bed.
Before she passed, the mom had relayed to cops that the bedroom door is often locked and there were a number of baby gates set up throughout the home to prevent the toddler from straying unattended.
Police suspect one of the usually closed baby gates had actually been left open.
Ilg said her son somehow got into the bedroom while she was doing laundry and started playing with the gun.
She told cops she didn’t realize the little boy even had the gun when she was suddenly struck in the back with a bullet.
Her husband, who was at work at the time of the shooting, posted a Facebook tribute to his slain wife and son in the wake of the ordeal.
“If you haven’t heard, Laura and our unborn son Talisen passed away Friday. There are no words for the pain and loss I feel,” he wrote.
“She was, is, and will always be, the love of my life.”
The couple’s surviving son is being cared for by his father, cops said.
Police are probing the functionality of the firearm and how the toddler was even able to pull the trigger.
