The 6-year-old boy who opened fire at a Newport News, Virginia, elementary school Friday, critically injuring his teacher, used a 9mm handgun his mother had bought legally, which he stuffed in his backpack before leaving. home, police said Monday.
The teacher, identified as
25-year-old Abigail Zwerner, was
giving instructions to a first-grade class at Richneck Elementary School, where there were about 20 students, when the boy pointed the gun at her and shot her.
The bullet went through Zwerner's hand and chest
, police said at a news conference.
The teacher has been celebrated in her community as a hero, as she proceeded to evacuate the classroom and get her students to safety despite being critically injured.
“She was injured, but she was still able to get all of her students out of the classroom,” Newport News Police Department Chief Steve R. Drew said.
"She saved lives that day."
Drew insisted the shooting was intentional and said the teacher is out of danger, he said, and is being treated at the hospital where she was taken after the attack.
"An unprecedented situation"
The boy also remains at a local medical center, although police did not say for what reason.
The police detailed that he has asked for help from Social Services and child psychiatrists to assist with the case that they described as
“an unprecedented situation”.
Virginia state law states that a 6-year-old child cannot be tried as an adult for a crime.
He is also too young to be in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice, should he be found guilty.
It is not yet clear whether charges will be brought against the boy's parents.
The mother was questioned by the authorities and it is being investigated whether she had a criminal record, clarified Drew, who assured that he spoke with the teacher and that the first thing he asked was: "Do you know how my students are?"
A 6-year-old boy is arrested for shooting a teacher in Virginia
Jan 7, 202300:19
“That moved me,” Drew said.
After interviewing Zwerner, he explained that
there was no altercation or physical fight
prior to the shooting and that the boy pointed the gun at her when she was giving instructions to the class.
The teacher, he explained, took a defensive position and "raised her hand, placed it on her chest and the bullet went through her hand and the upper part of her chest."
Police said they went to the school after receiving a call at 1:59 pm Friday with information about a teacher being shot.
A few minutes later, officers arrived at the first grade classroom, where they found an employee holding the boy who shot.
[The Virginia school district where a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher has had three shootings in 17 months]
“The boy was being combative”
and was transferred to a police vehicle while the school was evacuated, Drew said.
The 9 mm caliber weapon "was found near the student's desk."
According to security videos, the students in the classroom ran out into the hallway after the attack.
“I estimate it was about 17 to 20 students,” Drew said.
Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. John C. Clark / AP
The teacher was the last to leave the classroom "and tried to make sure that her students were safe."
She then was taken to an administrative office, where she was given first aid.
Authorities said they have interviewed multiple school employees, and that the investigation is continuing.
More details about the weapon
“How does a child know how to shoot a gun?
I don't know how to answer that question," the Newport News police chief said.
["I don't want to be shot": a new video of the massacre in Uvalde suggests that the police were afraid to
confront the killer]
After questioning the minor and his parents, the police learned that the student took the weapon from home, put it in his backpack and took it to school.
“The gun was legally purchased by the child's mother,” Drew clarified.
“I don't know what was going through that kid's mind.
I don't know what else would have happened if those kids had stayed in that room."
A traumatized community
George Parker, superintendent of the Newport News public schools, assured at the press conference that there was no way to prepare for this attack that "traumatized not only the community, but the entire city."
Parker reported that it is the second reported case of an armed student inside a school in the last 17 months.
“We learned a lot from the first incident, it was a high school event, but
we were in no way prepared for a six-year-old to bring a gun to his school
and shoot his teacher,” he stressed.
Classes, he said, have been canceled for the entire week and he will be talking with school staff to review safety plans.
The official assured that they will offer psychological support to the community and thanked the teachers who showed up at the schools despite the fear.
Students and police officers gather outside Richneck Elementary School, following the shooting on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. Billy Schuerman / AP
David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting database, which tracks shootings in the United States dating back to the 1970s, told Telemundo's sister network NBC News that attacks by students this young are rare.
“It is the seventeenth shooting of a child under 10 years of age in a school.
It's rare for a six-year-old to pull the trigger
,” said Riedman, who compared the attack in Virginia to a 2000 case where a boy, also 6, fatally wounded another student at a Michigan school.
"This is a tragic situation because it is extraordinarily preventable
," Riedman said.
“This was a weapon that this student could not have obtained on his own, even if an adult had stored it properly,” he insisted.
[They investigate the shooting that occurred during the recording of a French Montana video]
“This has shocked us, it has shocked me,” he said.
“The safety of our children is the priority,” said Phillip D. Jones, the city's mayor.
A vigil has been organized in Newport News for the injured teacher, to thank her for protecting the students in the classroom.
