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

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

ByThe Associated Press

18 May 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

CHICAGO -- A Chicago 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, police mentioned Wednesday.

The 28-year-old lady appeared in court on Wednesday on three misdemeanor youngster endangerment counts. A judge 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 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 keeping with police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, just earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that prosecutors said in the course of the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the child's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good situation, police stated.

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

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who discovered a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors stated during the hearing.

The lady's attorney, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never simply placed below the mattress. However, he said, “This wasn't something she deliberate or one thing she did on her personal volition.”

Cook County Choose 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 mentioned.

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