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

Chicago police say a mom 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

ByThe Associated Press

18 May 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

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

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

Throughout the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the girl's 8-year-old son discovered the gun beneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the town’s North Side on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm homeowners identification card.

In keeping with police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Occasions reported that prosecutors stated throughout the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's abdomen. The child was taken to a hospital in good situation, police said.

In an electronic mail to oldsters, the varsity's principal said the bullet "prompted some particles to ricochet in your child’s classroom, which hit a member of our school community and triggered minor scrapes.” The college didn't reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A teacher then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who discovered a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors stated during the listening to.

The lady's attorney, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never simply positioned underneath the mattress. But, he mentioned, “This wasn't something she planned or one thing she did on her personal volition.”

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

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

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