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

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

ByThe Associated Press

18 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mother has been charged with baby endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack by chance 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 mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet School on town’s North Facet on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm homeowners identification card.

In accordance 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-Occasions reported that prosecutors mentioned in the course of the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's abdomen. The kid was taken to a hospital in good situation, police said.

In an email to folks, the college's principal stated the bullet "precipitated some debris to ricochet in your youngster’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty neighborhood and triggered minor scrapes.” The school didn't reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A teacher then grabbed the backpack and gave it to safety officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned throughout the hearing.

The woman's attorney, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never just positioned below the bed. However, he said, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her personal volition.”

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

“This may not have been an intentional act, however it's a supremely negligent act,” he mentioned.

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