CHICAGO (AP) — A 7-year-old boy was hospitalized in good condition after being grazed by a bullet when a gun accidentally discharged in a backpack at a school Tuesday, police said.
The bullet struck the ground and ricocheted by the second-grader, grazing his abdomen, at Disney Magnet Elementary School on Chicago’s North Side shortly before 10 a.m., police said.
Principal Paul Riskus sent a letter to parents saying “staff immediately intervened, secured the gun, and contacted the Chicago Police Department" and the Chicago Public Schools' Office of Safety and Security.
Edwina Watkins' 12-year-old grandson is a student at the school.
“It is shocking for one, for a little kid to have a gun, something that should be hard for an adult to have, in a school,” Watkins told WLS-TV.