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

Chicago police say a mother has been charged with youngster endangerment after a gun in her second grader’s backpack accidentally discharged in school, 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 baby endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack unintentionally discharged at school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police said Wednesday.

The 28-year-old lady appeared in courtroom on Wednesday on three misdemeanor child endangerment counts. A decide 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 found the gun underneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on the town’s North Side on Tuesday. The mom has a legitimate firearm owners identification card.

Based on police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Instances reported that prosecutors stated in the course of the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police said.

In an email to folks, the college's principal mentioned the bullet "induced some debris to ricochet in your child’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty community and brought about minor scrapes.” The varsity did not reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

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

The girl's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never simply positioned underneath the bed. But, he mentioned, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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