A six-year-old student shot his teacher at his primary school in Virginia, critically injuring her. This was reported by the Newport News police on Friday (local time) on Twitter. The first grader at Richneck Elementary School in the city of Newport News 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 shot the woman, who was between 30 and 40, with a handgun, Steve Drew, chief of the Newport News Police Department, said at a news conference. The shot was not accidentally fired. The woman’s injuries are classified as life-threatening, but “there has been some improvement since the last update we received,” Drew said, according to CNN. Now it has to be found out where the firearm came from and what the situation was like.
Photos and videos taken after the crime showed frightened and confused children, and dozens of police officers were on patrol. Newport News public schools chief George Parker said he was in shock. “We must educate our children and ensure their safety.” Guns should not be allowed to get into the hands of young people. The school will remain closed on Monday. Newport News has a population of approximately 180,000, making it the fifth largest city in the state. It is known for its shipyard.
School incidents involving such young shooters are also rare in the United States. According to the New York Times, there have been 16 cases involving shooters under the age of 10 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.
