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

Chicago police say a mom 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 mom has been charged with youngster endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack unintentionally discharged at school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police stated Wednesday.

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

In the course of the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son discovered the gun underneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on town’s North Side on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm owners identification card.

In response to police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that prosecutors mentioned in the course of the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police stated.

In an e mail to parents, the varsity's principal stated the bullet "brought about some particles to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our college neighborhood and prompted minor scrapes.” The college didn't reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned during the listening to.

The woman's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and not just positioned below the bed. However, he said, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her own volition.”

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

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

He continued: “We are inches away, presumably centimeters away, from a really different case and a really totally different tragedy.”