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

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

ByThe Related Press

18 May 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

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

The 28-year-old lady appeared in court docket on Wednesday on three misdemeanor baby endangerment counts. A decide ordered her launch from Cook County Jail on $1,000 bond.

In the course of the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son found the gun underneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on the town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm homeowners identification card.

In response to police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Instances reported that prosecutors said throughout the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police said.

In an e mail to folks, the varsity's principal mentioned the bullet "caused some debris to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our school neighborhood and triggered minor scrapes.” The varsity did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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

The lady's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never simply placed underneath the mattress. However, he said, “This wasn't something she planned or one thing she did on her own volition.”

Cook dinner County Choose Michael Hogan was not impressed by that argument.

“This may not have been an intentional act, but it's a supremely negligent act,” he mentioned.

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