Toddler Kills Himself with Gun Found in Bedroom

This morning in a home in Columbus, Ohio, three-year-old Cartier Smith came into a bedroom where his mother, Carley Dials, age 29, and Sean Perrin, age 31, slept, and fatally shot himself with a handgun he found wedged between the mattress and the wall. Before going to sleep, Dials had placed it there after picking it up off the bedroom floor. The gun belonged to Perrin, who fled the scene. Cartier was pronounced dead at the hospital about an hour after the shooting. Dials was charged with involuntary manslaughter, and Perrin was arrested later in the day and charged with having weapons while under disability.

Source:

Shahid Meighan, “Columbus Mother Carley Dials Faces Judge After 3-year-old Son Shot Himself with Unsecured Gun,”dispatch.com (September 23, 2025).