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

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

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

During the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the woman'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 mom has a legitimate firearm homeowners identification card.

In keeping with police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, just earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Instances reported that prosecutors stated through the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police mentioned.

In an e-mail to folks, the varsity's principal mentioned the bullet "brought on some debris to ricochet in your youngster’s classroom, which hit a member of our school neighborhood and caused minor scrapes.” The college did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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

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

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

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

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