The mother of a second grader at Disney Magnet School in Chicago’s Buena Park neighborhood is facing child endangerment charges after her son Tuesday brought her gun to school and the weapon “accidentally discharged” in the classroom while inside his backpack, police say.
Tatanina Kelly, 28, faces 3 misdemeanor counts of causing a child to be endangered. Kelly is expected to be in court Wednesday.
Just before 10 a.m. Tuesday, police say a weapon was accidentally discharged from a student’s backpack inside a second grade classroom at Disney Magnet School at 4100 N. Marine Drive. A bullet struck the ground and ricocheted, grazing a 7-year-old classmate in the abdomen.
Police say the student was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital, and was last listed in good condition.
Kay Perkins, who was celebrating her eighth birthday Tuesday, was sitting near the classmate when the gun went off, her parents said.
“She said there was an explosion, and that a young man had gotten glass in his stomach,” Perkins’ mother told NBC 5. “My daughter says he was in the row behind hers, so it was in very close proximity.”
The Perkins’ say that their daughter and her classmates were evacuated after the incident, and were told that their classmate had gone to the hospital, and that he was okay.
“They (then) resumed their day,” the girl’s mother told NBC 5.
An email to parents from the school’s principal explained that a discharged gun in a backpack “caused some debris to ricochet in your child’s classroom, which hit a member of our school community and caused minor scrapes.”
The principal’s letter adds that the school is taking the incident very seriously, and “working together with CPS to make a safety plan moving forward.”