The 6-year-old who shot and injured his first-grade teacher at a Virginia elementary school in January will not be charged. However, a prosecutor stated that he was still determining whether or not other individuals would face criminal charges.
The child shot the 25-year-old teacher with a pistol in a classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on January 6 at around 2:00 p.m., leaving her with "life-threatening" injuries and renewing demands for regulations to keep weapons out of the hands of youth.
Boy, 6, Took Gun Out of Backpack, Shot Teacher
The counsel for the Commonwealth, Howard E. Gwynn, told NBC News on Wednesday that such a small child would not comprehend the court system. The possibility that a 6-year-old may stand trial is worrisome, according to him. Gwynn stated in a statement posted by the Newport News Police Department on Thursday that he had received the investigation's findings, including three binders and hours of police body camera footage, many weeks earlier.
The incident in Newport News, a city of more than 180,000 people located approximately 70 miles southeast of Richmond, Virginia, surprised officials and the community, garnering substantial attention due to the child's age, the school's response, and the boy's access to the gun.
Abigail Zwerner was in the middle of a typical lesson in her first-grade classroom when, according to the authorities, the student pulled out a revolver, pointed it at the instructor, and shot. A single bullet entered her palm before striking her chest.
Diane Toscano, a lawyer for Zwerner, stated in January, in the aftermath of the killing, that there had been a sequence of escalating indications that the youngster had a pistol, raising doubts about the school's response. Thursday's call to Ms. Toscano's office was transferred to the public relations department, which did not answer.
Moreover, the teacher's counsel asserts that school administrators were often informed of the gun's availability on the day of the incident. Toscano asserted that despite "knowing of imminent danger," the government "failed to act."
An attorney for former elementary school administrator Briana Foster Newton stated that her client was unaware that a pupil brought a pistol to school that day. Newton was transferred following the shooting, according to CBS News. In February, Newton's attorney Pamela Branch stated, "Those who were aware that the student may have had a firearm on campus that day did not mention this to Newton at all."
Branch did not specify who may have known the student was carrying a firearm that day. Michelle Price, a Newport News public school district spokesperson, acknowledged days after the shooting that a staff member had inspected the child's backpack before the incident "after it was suspected that the youngster may have a weapon." No weapon was discovered. On January 25, the school board decided to terminate George Parker III's contract as district superintendent.
Virginia Law
Steve Drew, the head of the Newport News Police Department, stated that the gunshot was purposeful and that any potential charges would depend on "what the facts and the law support" in the first official police statement of the incident.
The agency said the youngster had obtained the firearm from his house, placed it in his bag, and brought it to school. The weapon was a 9mm Taurus pistol his mother had lawfully purchased. Per NY Times, the law of Virginia bans leaving a loaded firearm accessible to minors under 14 years old. The offense has a minor penalty.
The K-12 School Shooting Database, which began collecting data on school shootings after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, has identified at least 16 cases involving shooters under 10, three of which involved 6-year-olds and one a 5-year-old.
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