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

Chicago police say a mom 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 child 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 woman appeared in court on Wednesday on three misdemeanor child endangerment counts. A decide ordered her release from Prepare dinner County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Through the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son found the gun beneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet School on the city’s North Side on Tuesday. The mom has a legitimate firearm owners identification card.

Based on police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Instances reported that prosecutors mentioned through the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's abdomen. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police mentioned.

In an e-mail to oldsters, the school's principal stated the bullet "induced some particles to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty community and induced minor scrapes.” The varsity did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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

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

Cook County Choose 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 mentioned.

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