Mother Of Two Boys Arrested For Leaving Her Children In A Freezing Car While She Shopped And Having A Loaded Gun in the Vehicle

A 29 year old Joliet mother of two has been arrested for two counts of endangering the life of health of a child and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

It was on January 19, 2024, at 5:11 p.m., Joliet Police Officers responded to the parking lot of Target (2701  Plainfield Road) for a report of a small child unattended in a Nissan Sentra. Upon arrival,  Officers located the vehicle and observed a 2-year-old male sitting in the front seat with the  window down. Officers located a second child, an 8-year-old male, lying on the floorboard of  the rear seat. Officers were not able to locate an adult with the children in the vehicle, which  was not running. Officers noted that the temperature at the time of this incident was  approximately 9 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill of approximately -10 degrees Fahrenheit.  Officers took protective custody of both children and placed them in a warm squad car.

Approximately 15 minutes later, a female approached the Nissan with purchased merchandise  from the Target store. Officers made contact with this female and identified her as 29-year old Kadesha Clark and learned that she was the mother of both boys. Officers determined that the children were left unattended in the vehicle for approximately 45 minutes prior to arrival of Officers. Clark  believed she had left the vehicle running for the children. She was placed into custody without  incident.

Throughout this investigation, Officers learned from one of the children that a handgun may be  in the vehicle under the driver’s seat. Officers gained consent from Clark to search the vehicle at  which time a loaded handgun was recovered from under the front seat. Officers determined that  Clark did not possess a FOID card or a concealed carry license.

DCFS was contacted and responded to the scene. The children were eventually placed into the  care of other family.