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

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

ByThe Related Press

18 Could 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

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

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

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

In keeping 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-Times reported that prosecutors said during the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's abdomen. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police stated.

In an electronic mail to parents, the varsity's principal mentioned the bullet "caused some debris to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty community and precipitated 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 discovered a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned through the hearing.

The lady's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and not just positioned beneath the bed. But, he said, “This wasn't something she planned or one thing she did on her personal volition.”

Prepare dinner County Decide Michael Hogan was not impressed by that argument.

“This may not have been an intentional act, but it's a supremely negligent act,” he said.

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