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

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

ByThe Related Press

18 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mother has been charged with baby 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 girl appeared in court on Wednesday on three misdemeanor child endangerment counts. A choose ordered her launch from Cook County Jail on $1,000 bond.

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

According 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 mentioned through the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's abdomen. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police mentioned.

In an email to folks, the varsity's principal stated the bullet "brought about some debris to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty community and brought on minor scrapes.” The school didn't respond to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors stated through the hearing.

The lady's attorney, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and not just placed underneath the bed. But, he mentioned, “This wasn't something she planned or one thing she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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