The father of a 6-year-old boy who brought a gun to his West Side school on Wednesday is accused of child endangerment, Chicago police said.
Marcus Daniel, 30, of the East Garfield Park neighborhood, was charged with misdemeanor endangering the life of a child, police said.
On Wednesday about noon, police responded to a disturbance at Ella Flagg Young Elementary School, 1434 N. Parkside Ave., where a school social worker on lunch duty was “made aware” by several students that the 6-year-old had a gun, according to a police report.
More Top Picks Signs Of An Eye Tracking Problem In Kids
The staffer performed a “pat-down” of the boy and didn’t find anything but shortly after, found a gun under the table where he’d been sitting, the report said.
The unloaded gun was kept safe until a school security officer got there and spoke to the boy, who said he and his friends been talking about guns and he told them he knew where his dad’s hiding place was: under a radiator, according to the report.
On Wednesday, he brought the gun to school, pulled it out of his bookbag and tucked it in his waistband.
His mom told police he’d been spending the last couple of days at his father’s home but Daniel said he had no knowledge of the gun, the report said.
Reached by phone Friday afternoon, the boy’s mother said she was terrified when she received a call from the school saying there had been an “incident.”
“I was so worried. … I really didn’t know what to expect,” she said.
Her son later explained that his friends told him to do it. She said she sat down with him and they talked about the seriousness of the situation.
“I couldn’t believe that he did that,” she said. “I just wanted him to know that he ever sees any further guns lying around that he knows he’s not supposed to touch it.”
The staffer who found the gun declined to comment.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was contacted and Daniel, of the 3200 block of West Fulton Street, is due in court April 4.