USA
Six-year-old shoots teacher and seriously injures her
No students were injured in the incident at Richneck Elementary School. photo
© Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot/AP/dpa
In an elementary school, a six-year-old boy and his teacher argue. Finally, the boy shoots the woman – and critically injures her. His motive is a mystery.
A first grader shot his teacher at his elementary school in Virginia, causing life-threatening injuries. The Newport News police reported on Friday on Twitter. The six-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School is in police custody. No students were injured in the incident on Friday afternoon. Parents and students were reunited in the school’s sports hall. The investigations continued.
The incident was triggered by a dispute in the classroom, the New York Times reported, citing the authorities. The boy once shot the teacher, who was between 30 and 40, with a handgun, Steve Drew, chief of the Newport News Police Department, said at a news conference. “It wasn’t an accidental shot.” Now it must be clarified where the weapon came from and how the incident happened.
The teacher’s injuries are classified as life-threatening, but “there has been some improvement since the last update we received,” Drew said, according to CNN. Photos and videos taken after the crime showed frightened children, and dozens of police officers were patrolling.
Trannisha Brown, whose son attends the school, told The New York Times she received a call from her 11-year-old child shortly after the incident. The fifth grader holed himself up on the floor of his classroom with his friends and was scared. In the background she heard crying and desperate children. “That shook me.” The 32-year-old reported that she had been on the phone with her son for a long time and tried to comfort him.
Newport News public schools chief George Parker said he was in shock. “We must educate our children and ensure their safety.” Schools in his district do have metal detectors, but the children are not checked every day, but mainly in concrete threat situations. Guns should not be allowed to get into the hands of young people. The school will remain closed on Monday.
The city of Newport News has a population of approximately 180,000, making it the fifth largest city in the state. It is a good 110 kilometers southeast of Virginia’s capital, Richmond. It is known for its shipyard. According to US media reports, around 560 students attend Richneck Elementary School.
School incidents involving such young shooters are also rare in the United States. According to an organization quoted by the New York Times, there have been 16 cases involving shooters under the age of ten since 1970. Six-year-olds were involved in three of them, and two of these three incidents were registered as accidental.
The Newport News incident underscores the continuing threat of gun violence in schools across the United States. In May, 19 children and two teachers were killed in an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.