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 unintentionally discharged at school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate

ByThe Related Press

18 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mom has been charged with baby endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack accidentally 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 baby endangerment counts. A choose ordered her launch from Prepare dinner County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Through the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son discovered the gun beneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet School on the city’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mother has a sound firearm house owners identification card.

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

In an email to parents, the varsity's principal said the bullet "induced some debris to ricochet in your youngster’s classroom, which hit a member of our school group and brought about minor scrapes.” The school did not respond to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors said during the listening to.

The woman's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never just placed below the mattress. However, he mentioned, “This wasn't one thing she deliberate or something she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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