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

Chicago police say a mother 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 Related Press

18 May 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mom 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, police mentioned Wednesday.

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

During the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the girl's 8-year-old son discovered the gun underneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the city’s North Side on Tuesday. The mom has a sound firearm house owners identification card.

According to police, the backpack was in the boy's classroom when, just earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Instances reported that prosecutors stated throughout the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the child's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good situation, police mentioned.

In an email to folks, the school's principal stated the bullet "induced some particles to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our faculty group and caused minor scrapes.” The varsity didn't reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

A instructor then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who discovered a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors mentioned through the listening to.

The lady's attorney, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun ought to have been locked up and not simply placed under the bed. However, he stated, “This wasn't one thing she deliberate or something she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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