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 accidentally discharged in school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate

ByThe Related Press

18 May 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

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

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

During 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 School on town’s North Side on Tuesday. The mom has a valid firearm homeowners identification card.

Based on 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 through the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police said.

In an e mail to folks, the varsity's principal mentioned the bullet "induced some particles to ricochet in your youngster’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty community and brought on minor scrapes.” The school didn't reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A instructor then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned in the course of the listening to.

The girl's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never just positioned beneath the bed. But, he stated, “This wasn't one thing she planned or one thing she did on her own 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 are inches away, possibly centimeters away, from a very totally different case and a really different tragedy.”