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

Chicago police say a 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

ByThe Associated Press

18 Could 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

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

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

In the course of the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son discovered the gun underneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm homeowners identification card.

In keeping with police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Times reported that prosecutors stated during the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police said.

In an email to folks, the college's principal stated the bullet "caused some debris to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our school community and induced minor scrapes.” The varsity did not reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A instructor then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors said throughout the listening to.

The woman's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and not simply placed beneath the bed. However, he stated, “This wasn't one thing she planned or something 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, however it is a supremely negligent act,” he stated.

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