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

Chicago police say a mom 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

ByThe Related Press

18 Could 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 by accident discharged at college, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police mentioned Wednesday.

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

During the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son discovered the gun beneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the city’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mom has a valid firearm house owners identification card.

In response to police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Occasions reported that prosecutors stated through the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police stated.

In an e-mail to folks, the varsity's principal mentioned the bullet "brought about some particles to ricochet in your child’s classroom, which hit a member of our school neighborhood and caused minor scrapes.” The college didn't respond 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 lady's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never just positioned below the mattress. But, he said, “This wasn't one thing she planned or something she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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