On Friday, one six-year-old child intentionally shot and severely injured his first-grade teacher with a handgun at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia.
According to a police , they were notified that a teacher had been shot during an altercation of some kind. The student was immediately taken into custody and his teacher was transported to a local hospital to be treated for “life-threatening” injuries, according to the police department.
Breaking: A teacher was shot inside Richneck Elementary School this afternoon in Newport News, Virginia.
No students were hurt, and the suspect is in custody, officials said.
No word yet on the teachers condition.
Heres a look at the scene from my colleagues on the ground.
— John Cowley IV (@JohnCowleyIV)
Superintendent George Parker said in a that he was “disheartened” and “in shock” over the incident, questioning how a 6-year-old was able to get his hands on a firearm in the first place.
“We need to educate our children and we need to keep them safe,” he said during the conference. “We need the community’s support, continued support, to make sure that guns are not available to youth and I’m sounding like a broken record today because I continue to reiterate that: we need to keep the guns out of the hands of our young people.”
“I cannot control access to weapons,” he added. “My teachers cannot control access to weapons… Our students got a lesson in gun violence and what guns can do to not only disrupt not only an educational environment but also a family, a community.”
Parker noted that the elementary school will be closed through Monday to ensure “the mental health of our staff and our students.”
As of Friday afternoon, Zwerner was said to have shown “some improvements,” Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew told reporters. Police are still unaware of how the boy obtained the weapon.
“We have been in contact with [local prosecutors] and some other entities to help us best get services to this young man,” according to Drew.
No one else in the classroom was injured. Students were given permission to find their parents after the school was deemed safe.
According to the , 6-year-olds cannot be tried as adults under Virginia law Additionally, they are considered too young to be taken under the juvenile justice department’s custody if they are found guilty of criminal charges.
However, the boy’s parents’ custody of the child can be stripped and given to the state social services department.
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