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Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia
Photo: John C. Clark / dpa
In the case of a six-year-old who shot his teacher at a US elementary school in early January, school officials have been accused of serious negligence.
Concerned teachers warned the school management "three times within a few hours" on the day of the crime that the boy was carrying a gun and threatening others, the victim's lawyer said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The school management downplayed the warnings and did not react.
The 25-year-old teacher was critically injured in the incident at Richneck Elementary School in Virginia.
According to her lawyer, she now wants to sue the school management.
According to the police, the teacher was able to get all the students out of the classroom.
In fact, no students were injured.
The incident took place in a classroom and was said to have been triggered by an argument.
After the crime, it became known that the gun belonged to the boy's mother.
According to the police, she had legally acquired the gun and kept it at home.
There the student took the gun and took it to school in a backpack.
The police had repeatedly emphasized that the act was not an accident, but that the boy had deliberately shot the teacher.
Virginia law prohibits storing a loaded gun where it is accessible to children under the age of 14.
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 since 1970 involving shooters under the age of ten.
Six-year-olds were involved in three of them, and two of these three incidents were registered as accidental.
kfr/dpa