A 6-year-old boy has threatened his life by shooting a teacher in a classroom, US police say.
No students or other staff were injured in the incident at Richneck Elementary School in Virginia, which officials described as an “argument” rather than an “accident.”
The injured teacher, a woman in her 30s, was taken to the hospital where Police Chief Steve Drew told reporters she was starting to improve.
The child was found with a pistol in the classroom and has been taken into custody, he added.
“This was not an accidental shooting,” Mr Drew said, adding he wanted to know where the gun came from.
“We haven’t had a situation where someone got around a school shooting,” he continued.
“We had a shooting at one particular location.”
Newport News Public Schools confirmed on Facebook that parents and students had reunited outside the gymnasium, where officials said there would be no classes Monday.
Photo: Associated Press
Joselin Glover, whose nine-year-old son Carlos attends Richneck Elementary, said she received text messages from the school saying one person had been shot and another had been shot. detention.
“My heart stopped,” she told the Virginia Pilot.
“I was terrified and very nervous. Just wondering if that person was my son.”
Carlos, a fourth-grader, was at recess at the time, but said he and his classmates quickly ducked behind the classroom.
“Most of the class was crying,” Carlos told the paper.
Photo: Associated Press
‘My teacher couldn’t control access to weapons’
School superintendent George Parker said he was “shocked” and “devastated” by the shooting and called for more to be done to stop children from getting guns.
“We need to keep guns away from our young people,” he said.
“I have no control over access to weapons. My teachers have no control over access to weapons.”
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All campuses are equipped with random metal detector searches, but none were deployed at Richneck Elementary on Friday, Mr. Parker explained.
Newport News, a city of about 185,000 people in southeastern Virginia, is known for its shipyards, which build the nation’s aircraft carriers and other U.S. Navy vessels.
The school has about 550 students, according to the Virginia Department of Education website.