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

Chicago police say a mother has been charged with baby endangerment after a gun in her second grader’s backpack by chance discharged at college, injuring a 7-year-old classmate

ByThe Related Press

18 Could 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 accident discharged at school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police said Wednesday.

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

Through the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son discovered the gun beneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet School on the city’s North Side on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm homeowners identification card.

In keeping with police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Instances reported that prosecutors mentioned in the course of the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's abdomen. The child was taken to a hospital in good situation, police mentioned.

In an e-mail to folks, the varsity's principal stated the bullet "brought about some debris to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty group and triggered minor scrapes.” The school did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A instructor then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned during the listening to.

The girl's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and not simply placed below the bed. But, he mentioned, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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