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

Chicago police say a mom has been charged with youngster endangerment after a gun in her second grader’s backpack accidentally discharged in 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 accident 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 youngster endangerment counts. A decide ordered her release from Cook County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Through the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the woman's 8-year-old son found the gun beneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mom has a valid firearm homeowners identification card.

According to 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 said in the course of the hearing 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 oldsters, the varsity's principal said the bullet "triggered some debris to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty neighborhood and induced minor scrapes.” The school didn't respond to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

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

The lady's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never simply positioned under the bed. However, he mentioned, “This wasn't something she deliberate or one thing she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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