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

Chicago police say a mother has been charged with little one endangerment after a gun in her second grader’s backpack by chance discharged at college, injuring a 7-year-old classmate

ByThe Associated Press

18 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min learn

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mom has been charged with youngster 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 courtroom on Wednesday on three misdemeanor little one endangerment counts. A judge ordered her release from Prepare dinner County Jail on $1,000 bond.

During 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 School on town’s North Side on Tuesday. The mother has a legitimate firearm owners identification card.

In line 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-Instances reported that prosecutors said in the course of 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 said.

In an email to oldsters, the college's principal said the bullet "precipitated some debris to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our school community and caused minor scrapes.” The varsity did not respond to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

A teacher then grabbed the backpack and gave it to security officers who discovered a Glock 19 handgun inside, prosecutors stated during the hearing.

The girl's legal professional, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and not simply positioned beneath the mattress. However, he said, “This wasn't one thing she deliberate or something she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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