USA
First grader shoots teacher with mom’s gun
A teenage boy shot his teacher at his elementary school in Virginia, critically injuring her. photo
© Billy Schuerman/The Virginian Pilot/AP/dpa
Although gun violence in schools is a serious problem in the United States, incidents involving such young gunmen are rare: In Virginia, a six-year-old fatally injured his teacher.
In the case of the first grader who shot his teacher at a US elementary school, new details have emerged. The gun belonged to the boy’s mother, Police Chief Steve Drew said at a news conference yesterday. They bought the gun legally and kept it at home. There the six-year-old student got the gun, put it in his backpack and took it to Richneck Elementary School in the US state of Virginia.
The student had fatally injured the teacher in the incident on Friday. Her condition is now stable, Drew said. He emphasized again that the act was not an accident, but that the boy had deliberately shot the woman. “She suffered a gunshot wound, but was able to get all the students out of the classroom,” the police chief said. In his opinion, she saved many lives and was a “heroine”. In fact, no students were injured.
The entire incident took place in a classroom. The incident is said to have been triggered by a dispute, as the “New York Times” reported, citing the authorities.
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 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.