It was reported that a 6-year-old boy shot a teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, on Friday afternoon, police chief Steve Drew said.
“The individual is a 6-year-old student. He is right now in police custody,” Drew stated. “We have been in contact with our commonwealth attorney and some other entities to help us best get services to this young man.”
Drew stated that the female teacher – who is in her 30s – was shot inside a classroom and that “this was not an accidental shooting.”
There was an altercation between the teacher and the student, who had the firearm, and one round was fired.
According to Drew, who had previously said the teacher was in critical condition, her injuries are considered life-threatening but there has been “some improvement in the last update that we got.”
The chief stated that no other students were involved.
He stated that the investigation was ongoing.
“We’ll get the investigation done, there’s questions we’ll want to ask and find out about. I want to know where that firearm came from, what was the situation,” he continued.
Newport News Public Schools Superintendent George Parker announced Monday that Richneck Elementary School will be closed.
“I’m in shock, and I’m disheartened,” Parker said at a news conference on Friday. “We need to educate our children and we need to keep them safe.”
“We need the community’s support, continued support, to make sure that guns are not available to youth and I’m sounding like a broken record today, because I continue to reiterate that: that we need to keep the guns out of the hands of our young people,” explained the superintendent.
Parker noted that officials are also investigating any past incidents that may have occurred before the shooting.