Pregnant Mom Shot and Killed by Her Own Toddler

A pregnant Ohio mom was shot and killed by her own 2-year-old son after the toddler apparently got hold of an unsecured, loaded gun from a nightstand.

Laura Ilg, 31, called 911 on June 16, telling a dispatcher that she had been shot in the back by her toddler son, local outlet WJW reported.

First responders rushed to Ilg’s home in Norwalk — about 55 miles southwest of Cleveland — where they found her and her son in an upstairs bedroom, according to another area outlet, WOIO.

Ilg, who was 33-weeks pregnant, was taken to an area hospital for an emergency cesarean section, but neither she nor her unborn child could be saved, Norwalk Police Chief David Smith told WOIO. The unborn baby would have been Ilg’s second child.

Police collected the handgun believed to have been used in the shooting, a 9-millimeter Sig Sauer P365 Nitron Micro-compact, along with a single spent shell casing, according to WJW. The firearm was loaded with another 12 rounds.

The gun was typically kept in a nightstand behind the locked door of the toddler’s parents’ bedroom, investigators determined. 

But the child got into the room while Ilg was doing laundry, started playing with the gun and accidentally shot his mom in the back, police said.

Ilg’s husband, who was at work at the time of the incident, has claimed ownership of the gun, according to Smith.

A police search of the home found “numerous child safety features,” including child locks and safety gates. One of the gates, however, had been left open, Smith said.

The same search also turned up an additional 12-round magazine for the handgun in the nightstand, a loaded Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun inside a bedroom closet and an airsoft rifle in a closet in a second room, WJW reported.

The handgun linked to the fatal shooting is being tested, in part to determine how a 2-year-old could apply sufficient pressure to the trigger to discharge it, officials said.

No charges were immediately filed in connection with the case.

Smith urged community members to properly secure their firearms and ammunition to prevent a repeat tragedy.

“Trigger locks, gun safes, there’s a million varieties, and they aren’t that expensive,” he said, according to WJW. “At the very least, leave them unloaded.”