Gun in 8-year-old’s backpack goes off at college, 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 college, injuring a 7-year-old classmate

ByThe Related Press

18 Might 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 at school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police mentioned Wednesday.

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

Throughout the listening to, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son found the gun beneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet Faculty on the town’s North Aspect on Tuesday. The mother has a valid firearm owners identification card.

In line with police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Times reported that prosecutors stated during the listening to that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the child's stomach. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police mentioned.

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

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

The girl's attorney, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never simply placed under the mattress. However, he mentioned, “This wasn't something she planned or something she did on her own volition.”

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

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

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