A local doctor who lost an 8-year-old son in an accidental Uzi shooting in 2008 was charged Friday by Connecticut State Police with carelessly storing a handgun linked to his adult son’s death in March.
His 28-year-old son allegedly used the firearm in his death by suicide, according to state police.
Charles Bizilj, 70, faces charges of violating large-capacity magazine rules, endangering a child, and irresponsible firearm storage, according to state police.
Bizilj and other family members sued a Massachusetts police chief and others after he and his two sons, aged 8 and 11, attended a gun show in 2008 that was advertised as an opportunity to fire special firearms, according to court documents. The 8-year-old attempted to fire an Uzi micro submachine gun, but the weapon jammed, according to a federal lawsuit that was dismissed, sending the case to Massachusetts courts.
According to court documents, after a worker unjammed the gun for the third time, the 8-year-old bobbled it and shot and killed himself. According to court documents, the 11-year-old was at the gun exhibition with Bizilj and his younger brother. As an adult, he committed suicide on March 13 in Ashford.
The incident resulted in the arrest of the Massachusetts police chief who planned the event, as well as lawsuits against multiple individuals and organizations, including the athletic club that hosted the gun expo, according to the Associated Press.
Edward Fleury, the former police chief who organized a gun show, was found not guilty of all charges in the 2008 killing of an 8-year-old.
He was charged with involuntary manslaughter and three counts of providing machine guns to children in the death of Christopher Bizilj on October 26, 2008, according to the Associated Press.
The former Pelham, Massachusetts, police chief stated at the time that he regretted holding the machine gun shoot and would never do so again.
Fleury’s Guns Training Company co-sponsored the annual Machine Gun Shoot and Guns Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club, located about ten miles west of Springfield. Christopher, of Ashford, Conn., was shooting a 9mm micro Uzi at pumpkins when the gun kicked back and hit him in the head.
Michael Spano, who was 15 at the time of the 2008 shooting and worked at the gun show, testified during the former chief’s trial, saying he offered the micro Uzi because Bizilj wanted his two sons to shoot an automatic weapon and the regular Uzi the father had chosen was failing to fire in automatic mode, according to the Associated Press.
“I told him it wasn’t a good idea because it shoots fast and kicks hard,” Spano stated on the stand, according to the Associated Press.
The jury was shown a gruesome video of the shooting, captured by Christopher’s father, which caused a collective gasp in the courtroom.
Troopers were called to Bizilj’s Ashford house at 12:40 a.m. on March 13, 2026, to investigate the death of his older son. Troopers searched his son’s bedroom and discovered a Glock 19 9mm handgun, which the father used to commit suicide, according to Bizilj’s arrest warrant affidavit. According to the warrant, the gun was found in an adjacent black plastic gun box that had been left open. The box also contained an empty Glock magazine with a 15-round capacity and a magazine assist clip, according to the affidavit.
While investigating the son’s room, police said they discovered a Marlin Model 60 rifle, an AR-15-style weapon, five 30-round ammo magazines, and two empty 30-round magazines.
Police discovered that the AR-15-style rifle was a “ghost” gun, which means it had no serial number.
Troopers looked for a locking mechanism for the pistol or its case but couldn’t find one, according to the affidavit. They also couldn’t find a locking mechanism for the soft plastic gun case that held the Marlin rifle, and the tan hard plastic box for the AR-15-style weapon was not securely locked, according to the affidavit.
Bizilj said police discovered his son dead after his wife woke him up and informed him that the 28-year-old man was not moving. According to authorities, the firearm used in the death was registered to Bizilj. According to the affidavit, Bizilj told troopers that he purchased the firearm eight years ago and planned to transfer it to his son, whom he was assisting to obtain a pistol permit.
According to the affidavit, police discovered that the couple’s 12-year-old child was home at the time of the event.
In April, state police contacted Bizilj, who stated that his son kept the pistol in his bedroom. According to the affidavit, Bizilj had a house rule that firearms would be locked up when not in use.
When police informed Bizilj that there appeared to be no lock on the gun’s case, he appeared “noticeably shocked” and explained that his son was “essentially a tenant in his residence paying rent” and had not been in the bedroom in about four years, according to the affidavit.
Police queried Bizilj about additional firearms in his son’s possession, and he only knew about the Marlin rifle, which was also registered to him. According to the document, Bizilj appeared astonished when state police informed him that the rifle did not appear on his list of registered weapons. He claimed to have possessed the pistol for about 30 years and may have purchased it in another state.
Police said the Marlin rifle was installed on an aftermarket stock with a pistol grip and a collapsible stock, “features that are consistent with the statutory definition of an assault weapon.”
According to the affidavit, when officers confronted Bizilj about the AR-15-style rifle and the magazines, he stated that he was unaware of the weapon and had no idea how his son obtained the firearm. Bizilj informed troopers he was unaware of the alterations, and the last time he saw the pistol, it was mounted on its original manufacturing stock.
Bizilj reportedly “explained that he had no desire to reclaim any of the seized firearms and requested they all be destroyed,” the police noted.
During the investigation, authorities discovered Bizilj purchased the Glock pistol in 2012. According to the affidavit, the weapon included high-capacity magazines that were not notified to the commissioner of emergency services and public protection as required by state law.
Bizilj was freed on a $50,000 bond and is set to appear in Danielson Superior Court on June 24.
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