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

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

ByThe Related Press

18 May 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 by chance discharged at college, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police stated Wednesday.

The 28-year-old lady appeared in courtroom on Wednesday on three misdemeanor little one endangerment counts. A judge ordered her launch from Cook County Jail on $1,000 bond.

In the course of the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the girl's 8-year-old son found the gun beneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the city’s North Facet on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm homeowners identification card.

According to police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Times reported that prosecutors stated through the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's abdomen. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police stated.

In an e-mail to folks, the varsity's principal stated the bullet "brought about some debris to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our school group and caused minor scrapes.” The college did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned through the hearing.

The girl's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and not just positioned beneath the bed. But, he said, “This wasn't something she deliberate or something she did on her own 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 different tragedy.”