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Gun in 8-year-old's backpack goes off at school, mom charged

Illinois Daily Life
Posted at 4:21 PM, May 18, 2022
and last updated 2022-05-18 19:57:01-04

Chicago police say a mother has been charged with child endangerment after a gun in her second grader's backpack was accidentally discharged at school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate.

Twenty-eight-year-old Tatanina Kelly appeared in court on Wednesday on three misdemeanor child endangerment counts.

A judge ordered her release from jail on $1,000 bond.

Prosecutors say the 8-year-old boy found the gun under his mother's bed and took it to school on Tuesday morning.

They say the gun discharged inside the boy's backpack and that the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the classmate.

The child was taken to a hospital in good condition.

In an email to parents, the school’s principal said the bullet “caused some debris to ricochet in your child’s classroom, which hit a member of our school community and caused minor scrapes.”

The school did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.