USA: Six-year-old shoots teacher after a fight in the classroom

A first grader shot his teacher at his elementary school in Virginia, causing life-threatening injuries. The police of the city of Newport News reported. The six-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School is in police custody. No students were injured in the Friday afternoon incident. Parents and students were reunited in the school’s sports hall. The investigations continued.

The incident was triggered by an argument in the classroom reported the New York Times citing the authorities. The boy once shot the teacher with a handgun, the Newport News Police Department chief said. “It wasn’t an accidental shot.” Now it must be clarified where the weapon came from and how the incident happened. The teacher’s injuries are classified as life-threatening, but “there has been some improvement after the last update we received.”

Photos and videos taken after the crime showed frightened children, and dozens of police officers were patrolling. Trannisha Brown, whose son attends the school, said the New York Times, she received a call from her eleven-year-old child shortly after the incident. The fifth grader holed up with his friends on the floor of his classroom. In the background she heard crying and desperate children.

Newport News public schools chief George Parker said he was in shock. “We must educate our children and ensure their safety.” Schools in his district do have metal detectors, but the children are not checked every day, but mainly in concrete threat situations. Guns should not be allowed to get into the hands of young people. The school will remain closed on Monday.

16 cases involving shooters under the age of ten since 1970

The city of Newport News has a population of approximately 180,000, making it the fifth largest city in the state. It is a good 110 kilometers southeast of Virginia’s capital, Richmond. According to US media reports, around 560 students attend Richneck Elementary School.

School incidents involving such young shooters are also rare in the United States. According to one of the new York Times cited organization Since 1970 there have been 16 cases 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.

However, 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.

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