Gun in 8-year-old’s backpack goes off at school, mom 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 Related Press

18 Could 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mother 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 mentioned Wednesday.

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

In the course of the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son discovered the gun underneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on the town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mom has a sound firearm house owners identification card.

In line with police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, simply earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Instances reported that prosecutors mentioned in the course of the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police said.

In an e-mail to oldsters, the school's principal stated the bullet "induced some debris to ricochet in your child’s classroom, which hit a member of our school group and induced minor scrapes.” The college did not reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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

The woman's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never just positioned under the bed. However, he said, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her own volition.”

Cook County Judge Michael Hogan was not impressed by that argument.

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

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