A 44 magnum sits on the range counter waiting to be used at the DVC Indoor Shooting Centre in Port Coquitlam
A 44 magnum sits on the range counter waiting to be used at the DVC Indoor Shooting Centre in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia March 22, 2013. Members of public can fire various kinds of pistols including 9mm, 45 calibre and even 357 magnum. REUTERS/Andy Clark

A toddler killed his mother while she was changing the nappy of his younger sister. The 3-year-old shot his mother on the head.

The incident took place on Monday afternoon while the woman was changing her younger daughter's nappy at her Tulsa, Oklahoma home. The Tulsa Police Department later identified the woman as a U.S. Army Reserve specialist. Tulsa Police Homicide Sgt. Dave Walker said that a holster had been there on the low-lying table where the mother was supposed to be changing the diaper of her 10-month-old daughter. The loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun was near the couch. The young boy is believed to have discovered the loaded gun on a table near the sofa, according to Tulsa World. Police believed that the young child accidentally fired the gun and killed his mother. The children's grandmother later found the woman after arriving at the house.

Engles' condition was critical when she was taken to hospital. She later succumbed to death at 5:38 p.m. on Monday. Her husband Brian, a truck driver, reached Tulsa and came to know about the incident. Brian said that he was coordinating funeral arrangements. He also said that he was not yet ready to be interviewed about the incident even though he had allowed the local newspaper to publish his message about his deceased wife on social media. He wrote on Facebook that he knew his wife loved him while he worshipped the ground she walked on. The Tuesday post on Facebook also said that he was the "luckiest man alive to have been able to love" his wife. She has been the best part of Brian since the day he met her, he wrote. "I love you Precious Angel," he added.

When child specialists interviewed the 3-year-old boy about the incident, he confirmed what the investigators had assumed. Child Abuse Network Managing Director Rose Turner said that the child would have the possibility to express himself in extreme anger or depression as he would not know how to deal with such a loss. According to Turner, the healing process of the children has just started.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au