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

Chicago police say a mother has been charged with youngster endangerment after a gun in her second grader’s backpack by accident 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 little one endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack accidentally 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 child endangerment counts. A choose ordered her launch from Cook County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Through the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son found the gun beneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the town’s North Side on Tuesday. The mom has a valid firearm house owners identification card.

In line with police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, simply earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Instances reported that prosecutors stated through the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police said.

In an e-mail to folks, the college's principal mentioned the bullet "brought about some particles to ricochet in your child’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty neighborhood and brought on minor scrapes.” The varsity didn't respond to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned in the course of the listening to.

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

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

“This will likely 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 really different case and a really completely different tragedy.”