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

Chicago police say a 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

ByThe Associated Press

18 May 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 at college, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police stated Wednesday.

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

During the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son discovered the gun beneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on town’s North Side on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm house owners identification card.

Based on police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Instances reported that prosecutors mentioned in the course of the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good situation, police said.

In an email to parents, the varsity's principal said the bullet "prompted some particles to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our school community and caused minor scrapes.” The college did not respond 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 stated through the listening to.

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

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

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

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