A 6-year-old boy is in police custody after he shot a teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, Friday afternoon, Police Chief Steve Drew said in a news conference.
No students were injured in the shooting at Richneck Elementary School, police said. The teacher a woman in her 30s suffered life-threatening injuries. Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew told reporters that her condition had improved somewhat by late afternoon.
Police said the child had a handgun in the classroom and that they took that student into custody.He added that the shooting was not an accident.
We did not have a situation where someone was going around the school shooting, Drew told reporters. We have a situation in one particular location where a gunshot was fired.
Richneck Elementary School will be closed Monday, according to Newport News Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. George Parker.
I’m in shock, and I’m disheartened, Parker said in Friday’s news conference. “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, the superintendent said.
Officials are also looking into any past instances that may have transpired before the shooting, Parker added.