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

Chicago police say a mom has been charged with child endangerment after a gun in her second grader’s backpack accidentally discharged at college, 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 little one endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack accidentally discharged at school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police said Wednesday.

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

Through 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 the town’s North Facet on Tuesday. The mom has a valid firearm house owners identification card.

According to police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Occasions reported that prosecutors said during the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police stated.

In an e mail to parents, the school's principal stated the bullet "brought on some debris to ricochet in your youngster’s classroom, which hit a member of our college community and prompted minor scrapes.” The school didn't respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A trainer then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who found a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned throughout the listening to.

The lady's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and never simply placed under the mattress. However, he stated, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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