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

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

ByThe Associated Press

18 Could 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

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

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

Throughout 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 College on town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mother has a valid firearm house owners 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 Sun-Instances reported that prosecutors said throughout the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's abdomen. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police stated.

In an electronic mail to folks, the college's principal stated the bullet "precipitated some debris to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our school group and prompted minor scrapes.” The varsity did not reply 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 said throughout the listening to.

The lady's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never just placed beneath the mattress. But, he mentioned, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her personal volition.”

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

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

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