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

Chicago police say a mom 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 Associated Press

18 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

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

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

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

In response to police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Occasions reported that prosecutors stated through the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the child's abdomen. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police mentioned.

In an e mail to oldsters, the college's principal said the bullet "brought about some particles to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our college community and triggered minor scrapes.” The varsity did not reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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

The lady's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never simply placed under the mattress. However, he said, “This wasn't something she deliberate or something she did on her personal volition.”

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

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

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