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

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

ByThe Associated Press

18 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mother 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, police stated Wednesday.

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

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

In keeping with police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Occasions reported that prosecutors mentioned through the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's abdomen. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police stated.

In an e mail to folks, the school's principal stated the bullet "caused some particles to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our college community and triggered minor scrapes.” The college did not reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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

The lady's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and not just placed under the mattress. But, he stated, “This wasn't one thing she planned or something she did on her own volition.”

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

“This will likely not have been an intentional act, however it is a supremely negligent act,” he stated.

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