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

Chicago police say a mother 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

ByThe Related Press

18 Could 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

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

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

During the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son found the gun beneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on the city’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mom has a valid firearm owners identification card.

In line 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-Times reported that prosecutors stated through the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's abdomen. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police stated.

In an e mail to oldsters, the varsity's principal mentioned the bullet "caused some particles to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our college group and caused minor scrapes.” The varsity did not respond to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A teacher then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors stated throughout the hearing.

The lady's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never just positioned under the bed. But, he stated, “This wasn't one thing she deliberate or something she did on her personal volition.”

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

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

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