6-year-old shot teacher at Newport News, Virginia, elementary school, police say

[Elderberry]

CBS News by Alex Sundby 1/6/2023

A 6-year-old student shot a teacher during an altercation at a Virginia elementary school on Friday, police said. No students were injured in the incident at Richneck Elementary School, Newport News police said in a statement.

"This was not an accidental shooting," Police Chief Steve Drew told reporters during an evening press conference.

The chief said the teacher, a woman in her 30s, suffered what he described as a life-threatening gunshot wound and was taken to a hospital.

The boy was taken into custody, the chief said. No one else was involved in the incident, he said.

More: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/richneck-elementary-school-shooting-newport-news-virginia/

[EdinVA]

There is something missing about this story, either intentionally or otherwise.
May have been the culmination of abuse or gender bending.... but 6 year olds don't have enough focus to pull this off.

[Kamaji]

More details needed.

[Smokin Joe]

"You aren't cutting my balls off!" ?

One would think, especially at such a young age that something dire provoked this.

No, we are far from getting the whole story.

[Sighlass]

Seems a pretty rough town... just judging by a few factors. Not that my state doesn't have a city with worse stats (Birmingham).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_News,_Virginia#Demographics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_News,_Virginia#Crime

[jafo2010]

Wouldn't that be the hoot of a sad event that this teacher was trying to encourage little Johnny to wear a dress and he didn't want to.  Something is not right here, and will the public hear the truth or will this get whitewashed? 

Truth is hard to come by today.  My money is that there was something not right about this teacher.

[Elderberry]

New York Times By Livia Albeck-Ripka and Eduardo Medina

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/newport-news-school-shooting-virginia.html

David Riedman, who founded the K-12 School Shooting Database after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, has compiled data on every school shooting — anytime a firearm has been discharged on school property — dating back to 1970. He found 16 cases involving shooters under the age of 10.

Three of them involved 6-year-old children. Two of those were ruled accidental shootings: One in 2011 at an elementary school in Houston in which a student had a gun that went off, injuring three people; and another in Mississippi in 2021, when a first-grader shot a fellow student with a gun he had brought to school and was playing with. In the third case, which attracted national attention, a 6-year-old boy shot and killed a young girl as the teacher was lining up students in a hallway.

According to Mr. Riedman’s research, there has been only one shooting at a school that involved someone under 6 years old: a kindergartner, aged 5, shot a gun in the cafeteria of his school in Memphis, Tenn., in 2013. No one was injured.

More at link.

[mountaineer]

Perhaps the teacher merely told the child to be seated or quiet down and he refused. You ain' tellin' me what to do, b**ch.

Pow!

[Hoodat]

Newport Bad News

[Idiot]

What sane parent lets a 6 yr old near a gun?

[Elderberry]

https://www.eaglegunrangetx.com/youthsafety/

Free Kids Gun Safety Classes offered in Lewisville and Farmers Branch, TX

Are the children in your house curious about firearms? Bring them to us for our kids Firearm Safety Class.

This course is designed to teach kids what to do if/when they come into contact with a firearm,  personal safety with firearms and safe handling. We will introduce kids to firearm safety and show a few different types of firearms.  Whether you have firearms in your house or not, your children will inevitably come into contact with them and you may not be present. It is extremely important for them to know how to respond if he, or she, encounters a firearm.

The class is intended for youth between the ages of 6 and 17 and is FREE.  The class will have limited seating so please sign up online, over the phone or in the store.
List of topics covered:

•   Unintentional contact with a firearm
•   Introduction to firearms
•   Basic Firearm Safety
•   Safe Handling
•   Range Rules and etiquette
 
Classes will be held at 6pm on the first Thursday in Farmers Branch and 5pm on the third Thursday in Lewisville every month.

We have extended Youth night on these nights so you can take the kids out to shoot after class.  On Youth night we shut down a bay and only allow .22 and BB guns so there are no loud guns.  If you want to shoot any other calibers you can shoot in the other bay.

[sneakypete]

What sane parent lets a 6 yr old near a gun?

@mrpotatohead

I started to post,"Parents who name their sons with names like "Kwanzee",but then I remembered I got my first gun when I was 8. It was a double-barrel 12 gauge with hammers.

Then again,I only took it to school once,and then it was because the Principle heard I had it,and wanted to look at it. One of my aunts was my bus driver,and when she asked me why I was taking a shotgun to school,she said "ok",and let me on the bus with it.

Not ONE single person,adult OR child was scared to see me walking around in the school carrying a shotgun.

Granted,that was a rural school,but times really HAVE changed.

[rangerrebew]

Teacher, 25, fighting for life after she was shot by six-year-old boy in class
Story by James Hockaday • 5h ago



A first-grade teacher who police say was deliberately shot in the chest by a six-year-old boy has been named as 25-year-old Abby Zwerner.
 
Investigators say the child got into an ‘altercation’ with the victim before shooting her in a classroom at Richneck Elemtary School in Newport News, Virginia.

The teacher is said to have ‘screamed at her kids to run away’ after the pupil fired a single bullet, according to parent Sebastian Gonzalez-Hernandez, whose six-year-old son was in the classroom.

‘Even after she’d been shot she was thinking about the safety of her children,’ he told DailyMail.com.

‘She is an amazing teacher, so dedicated. My son absolutely loves her, and we’re devastated about what’s happened. We are all thinking of her and hoping that she gets better soon.’

Ms Zwerner was rushed to hospital for surgery and remains in a critical condition following the shooting at around 2pm on Friday.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/teacher-25-fighting-for-life-after-she-was-shot-by-six-year-old-boy-in-class/ar-AA164tcx?cvid=a95be5b6e6b94997b0936f7da4b52e02

[rangerrebew]

This deserves more coverage than a multimillion-dollar football player being injured.  Schools have become war zones, too, though most districts are loath to admit it.

[DCPatriot]

This deserves more coverage than a multimillion-dollar football player being injured.  Schools have become war zones, too, though most districts are loath to admit it.

First of all...Damar Hamlin isn't a "multimillionaire".  He's still playing on a rookie contract.

Nobody ever heard of him before last Monday.

Secondly, a 6 year old hasn't reached the "age of reason".

Violent video games along with poor parenting....IMO.

[Hoodat]

This deserves more coverage than a multimillion-dollar football player being injured.

Agreed.  I'm guessing that this school teacher didn't have an ambulance and a full medical team only 120 yards or so away from her when she got shot.

[Fishrrman]

Bad seed.
6 years old or not, this vermin should be put down.

[Wingnut]

Agreed.  I'm guessing that this school teacher didn't have an ambulance and a full medical team only 120 yards or so away from her when she got shot.

Maybe teaching should be reclassified as a contact sport.

[GtHawk]

Maybe teaching should be reclassified as a contact sport.

Maybe that's the problem, it used to be, the Principal's paddle contacting the arse of the pupil that was disrespectful(why do I wonder if the little tyke popped a cap in teach because she disrespected him) or disruptive in class or otherwise broke the rules of conduct...remember those?

[mountaineer]

... Police say the violence was not accidental, as questions swirled about what will happen to the student. Experts say it is rare that a child so young would be accused of intentionally shooting someone.

Police in Newport News, Virginia, said the child and the teacher had an "altercation" before a single shot was fired in a first-grade classroom at Richneck Elementary School on Friday afternoon.  ...

A major focus of the investigation going forward will be where the child got the firearm used, which Drew said was a handgun.

Police have not responded to an inquiry about that aspect of the investigation or about whether any adults were questioned in connection with the shooting.  ...

If the child were to be charged, a defense attorney could argue a common law defense of infancy, Block said, meaning he is too young to understand the ramifications of what he's done. Block and DiCorrado both said he would have to also be found competent by a court, meaning he could assist in his own defense, unlikely with a 6-year-old.

Instead, authorities might file a petition stating he is a child in need of services such as counseling, Block said. It's more likely authorities will focus on providing services to the boy in the interest of rehabilitation rather than punishment.   ...

USA Today via MSN

[sneakypete]

 Experts say it is rare that a child so young would be accused of intentionally shooting someone.

@mountaineer

Dam white chillruns! Yew jist kain't trus de krackas!

BTW,what the HELL is a 6 year old doing in school,anyhow? Isn't he too young?

Not to worry,though. I am sure they will convict him as a juvenile and allow him to stay at home with an ankle bracelet,to end up with a full pardon at age 18 if he doesn't murder anyone else between now and then.

[Hoodat]

If the child were to be charged, a defense attorney could argue a common law defense of infancy, Block said, meaning he is too young to understand the ramifications of what he's done. Block and DiCorrado both said he would have to also be found competent by a court, meaning he could assist in his own defense, unlikely with a 6-year-old.

When will the student be transferred into the Fairfax County Public School system?

[Wingnut]

Maybe that's the problem, it used to be, the Principal's paddle contacting the arse of the pupil that was disrespectful(why do I wonder if the little tyke popped a cap in teach because she disrespected him) or disruptive in class or otherwise broke the rules of conduct...remember those?

Long lost days.  And now here we are.

[Kamaji]

Teacher, 25, deliberately shot in the chest by six-year-old boy in Virginia elementary school classroom 'has improved' and is 'in stable condition': Child remains in police custody

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11610093/Teacher-25-deliberately-shot-chest-six-year-old-boy-Virginia-stable-condition.html

[GtHawk]

Teacher, 25, deliberately shot in the chest by six-year-old boy in Virginia elementary school classroom 'has improved' and is 'in stable condition': Child remains in police custody

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11610093/Teacher-25-deliberately-shot-chest-six-year-old-boy-Virginia-stable-condition.html

It goes way beyond the kid, why haven't we heard about his parents parent being charged, and if they have other children their being removed from the home?