Teacher shot by 6-year-old is in serious but stable condition - The Washington Post

Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones said helium and different officials spoke with the teacher’s household Friday nighttime astatine a hospital. Her information has improved, Jones said successful a telephone interrogation with The Washington Post. “It is moving successful a affirmative direction.”

Officials are mobilizing counseling and different enactment for the Richneck Elementary community, Price said, and person canceled classes Monday and Tuesday. The schoolhouse has astir 550 students from kindergarten done 5th grade.

Police said the shooting occurred astir 2 p.m., successful a schoolroom with different students present, aft an altercation occurred betwixt the lad and the teacher. The boy, a first-grader, is successful custody, constabulary said.

“This was not an accidental shooting,” Newport News Police Chief Steve R. Drew said Friday.

No further accusation was instantly disposable Saturday astir what happened and however the lad came to person a handgun. “It’s an ongoing investigation,” Jones said.

The politician praised the school’s principal, teachers and staffers for their effect to the shooting. “This is simply a surreal experience,” helium said. “It breaks my bosom that we person an idiosyncratic that is 6 years aged progressive successful this incident. It’s a acheronian time for Newport News. We are going to guarantee the assemblage comes together.”

He besides promised a reappraisal of what tin beryllium done to bolster schoolhouse safety.

Schools Superintendent George Parker III said astatine a quality league Friday evening that “today, our students got a acquisition successful weapon violence,” and helium asked for assemblage enactment to marque definite guns were not disposable to youths. Teachers, helium said, “cannot power entree to weapons.”

Del. Marcus Simon (D-Fairfax) tweeted that helium was “sickened” by the news, adding: “It’s mode past clip to get superior astir passing harmless retention laws with existent teeth erstwhile we spell backmost into league adjacent week.”

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) connected Friday nighttime tweeted that his “administration has offered assistance successful effect to the shooting astatine Richneck Elementary School successful Newport News and basal astatine the acceptable to assistance successful immoderate mode we can.”

Robert Walters, 67, a section blues instrumentalist with a granddaughter successful kindergarten astatine Richneck Elementary, said helium encountered a country of agitation and chaos arsenic helium joined the swarm of parents and guardians rushing to find their children aft the shooting.

“I was prepared to spell into that building,” helium said. “I cognize a batch of different radical were reasoning the aforesaid thing.”

He said constabulary grouped the adults by the grades of their children, repeating that the children were safe.

Relatives of the kindergartners were among the archetypal ones into the school.

“She came retired and said, ‘Papa, my schoolhouse is broken. There’s thing breached successful the school,’” Walters recalled. Some children came retired crying, helium said.

Shannon Watts, the laminitis of the weapon unit prevention radical Moms Demand Action, said the shooting underscores the request for stronger weapon information laws.

“This is simply a horrific tragedy,” she said. “But it’s besides wholly preventable and senseless.” Watts said the facts of the lawsuit are startling. “The thought that a 6-year-old tin person intent and the quality to sprout and termination their teacher connected intent is bizarre,” she said.

Anderson reported from Washington.