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

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

ByThe Associated Press

18 Could 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

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 lady appeared in court on Wednesday on three misdemeanor baby endangerment counts. A choose ordered her release from Cook dinner County Jail on $1,000 bond.

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

In accordance with police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Occasions reported that prosecutors said throughout the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good situation, police mentioned.

In an e-mail to parents, the school's principal stated the bullet "caused some particles to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty group and brought on minor scrapes.” The college didn't reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who discovered a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned throughout the listening to.

The woman's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never just positioned beneath the bed. However, he mentioned, “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, but it's a supremely negligent act,” he said.

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