According to US police, a six-year-old kid shot a teacher inside a school, inflicting serious injuries that put her life in danger.
Officials have defined the incident at Virginia’s Richneck Elementary School as “an altercation” and “not an accident,” as no pupils or other staff members were hurt during it.
The injured instructor, a 30-year-old woman, was rushed to the hospital and is already showing signs of improvement, according to Police Chief Steve Drew.
He continued by saying that the youngster had been arrested after being discovered in the classroom carrying a pistol.
Mr. Drew asserted, adding that he is interested in learning more about the origin of the pistol, “This was not an accidental incident.”
He stated, “We did not have a circumstance where someone was evading the school shooting.
“We have a case where a bullet was discharged in one specific location.”
There will be no classes on Monday, according to Newport News Public Schools, which confirmed on Facebook that parents and pupils had been reunited at a gymnasium door.
Joselin Glover, whose nine-year-old son Carlos goes to Richneck Elementary, reported receiving a text message from the institution informing her that one person had been shot and another was in arrest.
She told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper, “My heart stopped.”
“I was quite anxious and panicking. Just curious whether my son was the one there.”
Fourth-grader Carlos claimed that although he and his classmates were at recess at the time, they were quickly holed up in the rear of a classroom.
Carlos informed the newspaper that “the majority of the class was crying.”
“My professors are powerless to prevent access to firearms,”
George Parker, the superintendent of schools, expressed his horror and disheartenment at the shooting and called for more action to be taken to prevent children from obtaining firearms.
He said, “We need to keep guns out of the hands of our youth.”
“Access to guns is outside of my control. My teachers are powerless to restrict access to guns.”
All school campuses are equipped with metal detectors, according to Mr. Parker, but they weren’t used at Richneck Elementary on Friday.
A city of around 185,000 people in southeast Virginia, Newport News is well-known for its shipyard, where the nation’s aircraft carriers and other US Navy vessels are constructed.
According to the website of the Virginia Department of Education, the school has roughly 550 students.