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

Chicago police say a mother has been charged with baby endangerment after a gun in her second grader’s backpack unintentionally discharged at college, 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 baby endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack by chance discharged in school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police mentioned Wednesday.

The 28-year-old girl appeared in court on Wednesday on three misdemeanor baby endangerment counts. A decide ordered her launch from Prepare dinner County Jail on $1,000 bond.

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

According to police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that prosecutors said throughout 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 said.

In an electronic mail to oldsters, the varsity's principal said the bullet "caused some particles to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our school community and brought about minor scrapes.” The college didn't 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 said in the course of the listening to.

The lady's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never just positioned below the mattress. However, he said, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her personal volition.”

Cook dinner County Choose Michael Hogan was not impressed by that argument.

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

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