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

Chicago police say a mom has been charged with baby 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 read

CHICAGO -- A Chicago mother has been charged with baby endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack accidentally discharged at college, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police stated Wednesday.

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

Throughout the hearing, prosecutors alleged that the girl'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 response to police, the backpack was within the boy's classroom when, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the gun discharged. The Chicago Sun-Instances reported that prosecutors mentioned during the hearing that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the kid's abdomen. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police stated.

In an electronic mail to parents, the varsity's principal said the bullet "caused some particles to ricochet in your little one’s classroom, which hit a member of our school group and precipitated minor scrapes.” The varsity didn't reply 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 said throughout the hearing.

The girl's attorney, Rodger Clarke, acknowledged that the gun should have been locked up and never simply placed below the bed. But, he said, “This wasn't something she deliberate or one thing she did on her personal volition.”

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

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

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