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 by accident discharged at college, injuring a 7-year-old classmate

ByThe Related Press

18 Might 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 at school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police mentioned Wednesday.

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

In the course of the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the girl's 8-year-old son discovered the gun beneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the town’s North Facet on Tuesday. The mother has a sound firearm homeowners identification card.

In keeping with police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, simply earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Instances reported that prosecutors said throughout the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the child's abdomen. The child was taken to a hospital in good situation, police said.

In an e mail to folks, the varsity's principal mentioned the bullet "caused some debris to ricochet in your youngster’s classroom, which hit a member of our school neighborhood and brought about minor scrapes.” The varsity did not reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A instructor then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who discovered a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors stated in the course of the listening to.

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

Cook dinner County Decide 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 said.

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