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

Chicago police say a mom has been charged with baby 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 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

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

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

Through the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son found the gun underneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on town’s North Facet on Tuesday. The mother has a valid firearm owners identification card.

According to police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, simply earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that prosecutors stated in the course of the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the child's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police stated.

In an electronic mail to oldsters, the school's principal stated the bullet "brought on some debris to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our school community and induced minor scrapes.” The school did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors said throughout the hearing.

The lady's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and not simply positioned beneath the bed. But, he mentioned, “This wasn't one thing she deliberate or one thing she did on her personal volition.”

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

“This may occasionally not have been an intentional act, but it is a supremely negligent act,” he mentioned.

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