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

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

ByThe Associated Press

18 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

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

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

During the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son discovered the gun beneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mother has a valid firearm house owners identification card.

Based on police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Times reported that prosecutors stated during the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's abdomen. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police said.

In an email to oldsters, the school's principal stated the bullet "brought on some debris to ricochet in your youngster’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty neighborhood and brought about minor scrapes.” The college did not respond to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors said during the hearing.

The woman's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never just positioned beneath the mattress. But, he stated, “This wasn't one thing she planned or something she did on her personal volition.”

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

“This may occasionally not have been an intentional act, however it's a supremely negligent act,” he stated.

He continued: “We are inches away, presumably centimeters away, from a really completely different case and a very totally different tragedy.”