On the evening of Saturday, January 27, 2024, emergency services responded to a home in the 2900 block of Shawnee Drive in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Inside, 23-month-old Dailoni Edward Hollis Daniels, a young Black male, was found critically injured by a gunshot wound and later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The Allen County Coroner’s Office ruled the cause of death a gunshot wound to the head and the manner homicide.

Investigators from the Fort Wayne Police Department, the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office, and the coroner’s office examined the scene. Attention focused on the child’s father, Travell Daniels, who told police he had brought his son into his bed to sleep and kept a Glock 23 under his pillow. He said he left the room and about ten minutes later heard a gunshot.

An arrest followed and charges were filed accusing Travell Daniels of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. What details are still missing that might help explain how the firearm discharged?