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

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

ByThe Associated Press

18 Could 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mother has been charged with baby endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack unintentionally discharged in school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police said Wednesday.

The 28-year-old girl appeared in court docket on Wednesday on three misdemeanor little one 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 girl'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 mom has a legitimate firearm house owners identification card.

In response to police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that prosecutors mentioned during the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police stated.

In an electronic mail to oldsters, the school's principal said the bullet "brought about some debris to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our college group and caused minor scrapes.” The varsity didn't respond to a request for comment on 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 girl's attorney, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and not simply positioned beneath the bed. But, he said, “This wasn't one thing she deliberate or one thing she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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