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

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

ByThe Associated Press

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

The 28-year-old lady appeared in courtroom on Wednesday on three misdemeanor child endangerment counts. A judge ordered her release from Prepare dinner County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Throughout the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son discovered the gun underneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet School on town’s North Facet 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-Occasions reported that prosecutors mentioned through 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 condition, police stated.

In an electronic mail to parents, the college's principal said the bullet "brought about some debris to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty neighborhood and caused minor scrapes.” The school did not reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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

The woman's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and not simply positioned underneath the mattress. But, he stated, “This wasn't one thing she deliberate or something she did on her personal volition.”

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

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

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