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

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

ByThe Related Press

18 Could 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mother has been charged with little one endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack unintentionally discharged in school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police mentioned 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 dinner County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Throughout the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son found the gun underneath her mattress and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on the town’s North Facet on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm homeowners identification card.

In keeping with 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 during the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good situation, police mentioned.

In an email to parents, the college's principal said the bullet "precipitated some debris to ricochet in your baby’s classroom, which hit a member of our school community and brought about minor scrapes.” The college 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 mentioned in the course of the listening to.

The woman's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and not simply placed beneath the bed. However, he said, “This wasn't something she planned or one thing she did on her personal volition.”

Cook County Choose Michael Hogan was not impressed by that argument.

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

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