Woman pleads guilty in case of pink gun at Grand Rapids school

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A woman has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a pink handgun that a child took to a Grand Rapids elementary school in a backpack.

The unloaded gun found last year at Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School now has Chelsea Berkley facing time behind bars.

Berkley was charged being a felon in possession of a firearm and being a habitual offender. She should not have had a gun due to her criminal record.

On the second day of Berkley’s jury trial in Kent County Circuit Court, she entered the guilty plea. Under a plea agreement, a habitual offender charge was dismissed and any incarceration is capped at one year, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said.

Sentencing has been set for mid-November. Berkley remains free on bond.

The son of Berkley’s fiancee brought the unloaded gun to school in May 2023. It was quickly confiscated and no one was hurt.

Berkley admitted to buying the gun on the street for $150, court records show.

In January, a jury acquitted Berkley’s fiancee, the boy’s mother, of a misdemeanor child abuse charge in the case in January, though she was found guilty of a misdemeanor lying to police charge.

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