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

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

ByThe Associated Press

18 May 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mother has been charged with youngster endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack by accident discharged in school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police stated Wednesday.

The 28-year-old lady appeared in courtroom 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 girl's 8-year-old son discovered the gun underneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mother has a valid firearm owners identification card.

In accordance 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 through the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police said.

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

A teacher then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who discovered a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors said through the listening to.

The woman's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and not just positioned below the mattress. However, he mentioned, “This wasn't something she deliberate or one thing she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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