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

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

ByThe Related Press

18 Might 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 chance discharged at college, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police stated Wednesday.

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

During the listening to, 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 town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm house 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 Solar-Instances reported that prosecutors mentioned throughout the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's abdomen. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police stated.

In an email to parents, the college's principal mentioned the bullet "triggered some particles to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty neighborhood and caused minor scrapes.” The school didn't respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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

The girl's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and not simply positioned underneath the bed. But, he said, “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 stated.

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