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

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

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

Through the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son found the gun underneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet School on town’s North Side on Tuesday. The mom has a legitimate firearm owners identification card.

In line with police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that prosecutors mentioned in the course of the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the child's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police stated.

In an e-mail to folks, the college's principal said the bullet "prompted some particles to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our school neighborhood and precipitated minor scrapes.” The varsity did not reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A instructor then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors stated through the listening to.

The lady's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and not simply positioned below the bed. However, he said, “This wasn't one thing she deliberate or something she did on her personal volition.”

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

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

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