NORWALK, OHIO: On June 16, a two-year-old boy accidentally shot his pregnant mother, Laura Ilg, after coming across a gun on a nightstand inside their house in Norwalk, Ohio. The mother said that she was doing laundry when her son bypassed the safety baby gates and began playing with the gun before accidentally firing the shot. Police Chief Dave Smith said that officers seized a SIG Sauer micro 9 mm handgun from the crime scene before rushing Ilg to the Fisher-Titus Medical Center.
While surgeons performed an emergency C-section on the woman, both she and her 33 weeks old unborn baby failed to survive the gunshot injuries. Her husband, a 28-year-old marine named Alek, told officers that the firearm belonged to him and was often kept on the nightstand beside the couple’s bed. Officials found several other weapons in the Norwalk residence but confirmed that the house was “full of safety features.”
Multiple weapons discovered in Ohio home where Laura Ilg was accidentally shot
Police officers found the weapon used in Ilg’s accidental shooting from her Norwalk, Ohio, home along with a shell casing. Investigators revealed that the handgun’s magazine was filled with an additional 12 rounds. Meanwhile, they also found two other firearms inside the home, including a 12-gauge shotgun in the master bedroom closet and an airsoft rifle in a closet inside the computer room.
It is not known if the murder weapon, a SIG Sauer micro 9 mm handgun belonging to Alek, and the additional firearms were licensed. However, the Norwalk Police Department’s detective bureau confirmed the presence of a number of child safety features in the home after executing a search warrant. Authorities confirmed that there were baby gates on almost all doorways and child locks on drawers.
Smith told local media that Ilg’s shooting is being considered accidental and unintentional even though police are investigating the functionality of the handgun and how a toddler was able to pull the trigger. It remains unknown if Alek will face any legal troubles related to the case but officials have confirmed that no charges have been filed in connection to the shooting at the time of writing.
What happens when toddlers cause accidental shootings?
Everytown for Gun Safety, the non-profit organization that advocates for gun control in the US, reportedly said that unintentional and accidental shootings happen mostly happens when children are at home, CBS reported. As per 2015-2022 data reviewed by the organization, the highest number of unintentional child shootings per day occurred last July.
At least 895 children aged five and less managed to access a gun and unintentionally shot themselves or someone else between 2015 and 2022, Everytown reported. The US has already witnessed multiple accidental shootings caused by toddlers this year. While the majority of such shootings are rules unintentional and accidental, parents are sometimes held accountable and charged for the actions of their children.
Earlier this month, two Detroit parents, Lolita Morgan, 28, and Mandel Berryman, 50, were charged with second-degree child abuse after their six-year-old son found an unsecured handgun and shot his 11-month-old brother on the shoulder and face. While the infant survived the shooting, Morgan was charged with possession of a pistol without a license in addition to the child abuse charge and Berryman was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and felony firearm.
In January Virginia mom Deja Taylor’s six-year-old son made headlines after shooting his first-grade teacher, Abigail Zwerner, at Richneck Elementary School, which left her hospitalized with gunshot wounds on her hand and chest. While the child was not charged criminally, his mother was indicted on charges of felony child neglect, and one count of recklessly leaving a firearm to endanger a child in April.
In May, a three-year-old Sacramento boy accidentally shot and injured himself after coming across a gun. The boy's father was later arrested on charges of illegal storage of a firearm and child endangerment. A similar incident took place the following month after a four-year-old girl in Georgia shot herself in the head after her father left a loaded gun on the floor at their home. The father was eventually arrested on a charge of second-degree cruelty to children and possession of a machine gun.
It is not known if Alek will face a similar fate in relation to his wife's accidental death at the hands of their two-year-old son. However, it is likely that the weapons found in his home were licensed as investigators have not mentioned any instances of illegal possession of weapons. Moreover, the house also had ample child safety features to protect the toddler from accessing the gun.
In the wake of the incident, Smith urged parents and families to keep guns locked and asked them to never leave weapons loaded and unattended. “Trigger locks, gun safes, there are a million varieties, and they aren't that expensive. At the very least, leave them unloaded,” the police chief mentioned.
