Police believe that a Pennsylvania state trooper did not mean to shoot his pregnant wife to death when a gun that he was cleaning accidentally discharged.
According to WCAU, police responding to the East Norriton Township home at around 2:25 p.m. on Friday found 34-year-old JoAnna Miller with a gunshot wound to the head.
She was later pronounced dead after being transported to Mercy Suburban Hospital. Doctors attempted to perform an emergency cesarean, but the unborn child also died, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Miller was 22 weeks pregnant.
"The baby never had its own breathing or heartbeat," Montgomery County Coroner Walter Hofman explained.
The trooper, who has not been named, told police that he was cleaning his .45-caliber handgun when it discharged. He said that he did not realize the gun was loaded.
The couple also had two other children who were at home at the time of the shooting.
Investigations were being conducted by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office and the East Norriton Township Police Department. Autopsy results were expected on Monday.
Watch the video below from WCAU, broadcast March 10, 2013.
