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

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

ByThe Associated Press

18 Could 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

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

Throughout the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the girl's 8-year-old son found the gun underneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on town’s North Facet on Tuesday. The mother has a sound firearm house owners identification card.

In accordance with police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Instances reported that prosecutors said throughout the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police stated.

In an email to parents, the college's principal stated the bullet "triggered some particles to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our school neighborhood and brought about minor scrapes.” The school didn't reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

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

The girl's lawyer, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and not just positioned underneath the bed. However, he stated, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her personal volition.”

Cook 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 stated.

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