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

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

The 28-year-old lady appeared in court on Wednesday on three misdemeanor child endangerment counts. A decide ordered her release from Cook dinner County Jail on $1,000 bond.

During the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son discovered the gun beneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the town’s North Facet on Tuesday. The mother has a valid firearm homeowners 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-Times reported that prosecutors stated throughout the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police mentioned.

In an electronic mail to parents, the college's principal stated the bullet "precipitated some debris to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our school neighborhood and induced minor scrapes.” The varsity did not respond to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

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

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

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

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

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