Gun in 8-year-old’s backpack goes off in school, mom charged

Chicago police say a mom has been charged with baby endangerment after a gun in her second grader’s backpack unintentionally discharged in school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate

ByThe Related Press

18 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mom has been charged with youngster endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack by accident discharged in school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police stated Wednesday.

The 28-year-old lady appeared in courtroom on Wednesday on three misdemeanor child endangerment counts. A judge ordered her launch from Prepare dinner County Jail on $1,000 bond.

In the course of the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son found the gun underneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mom has a valid firearm house owners identification card.

Based on police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Instances reported that prosecutors mentioned throughout the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the child's abdomen. The child was taken to a hospital in good situation, police mentioned.

In an electronic mail to parents, the college's principal mentioned the bullet "caused some debris to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our college group and triggered minor scrapes.” The school didn't respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who discovered a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors said during the listening to.

The lady's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and not simply placed underneath the bed. But, he stated, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her own volition.”

Cook County Judge Michael Hogan was not impressed by that argument.

“This may increasingly not have been an intentional act, but it is a supremely negligent act,” he said.

He continued: “We're inches away, possibly centimeters away, from a really totally different case and a really totally different tragedy.”