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

Chicago police say a mother 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

ByThe Associated Press

18 Might 2022, 23:06

• 2 min read

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mother has been charged with child endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack by chance discharged in school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police mentioned Wednesday.

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

In the course of the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the lady's 8-year-old son discovered the gun beneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet College on town’s North Facet on Tuesday. The mother has a valid firearm house owners identification card.

Based on police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, simply earlier than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Solar-Instances reported that prosecutors mentioned throughout the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the kid's stomach. The kid was taken to a hospital in good condition, police mentioned.

In an e-mail to parents, the varsity's principal stated the bullet "triggered some particles to ricochet in your youngster’s classroom, which hit a member of our school group and precipitated minor scrapes.” The varsity didn't reply 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 through the listening to.

The girl's attorney, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never just placed below the mattress. However, he stated, “This wasn't something she deliberate or something she did on her personal volition.”

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

“This will not have been an intentional act, however it is a supremely negligent act,” he mentioned.

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