A school administrator knew the six-year-old Virginia boy who intentionally fired a gun at his first-grade teacher had a weapon on him hours before the shooting, but nothing was found when his backpack was searched.
Abby Zwerner, a first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, had just finished reading a story and were about to head to an art lesson when the youngster pulled out the handgun and shot her.
Newport News Public Schools Superintendent Dr. George Parker has now said there had been a report the boy may have had a gun with him two and a half hours prior to the shooting.
Speaking at a town hall with parents Thursday, he said: ‘At least one administrator was notified of a possible weapon in the timeline that we’re reviewing and was aware that that student had, there was a potential that there was a weapon on campus.’
Newport News Public Schools Superintendent Dr. George Parker said at a town hall with parents Thursday that there had been a report the boy had the handgun with him
Details about how they learned about the weapon and why it wasn’t found before the shooting weren’t immediately available. The police chief has previously said the boy brought the gun to school in his backpack.
The news comes as the district continues to reel and attempt to react after its third shooting in three years.
Dr. Parker said he is considering requiring clear plastic backpacks for Richneck’s students that would be bought by the district.
On Thursday, the Newport News School Board also announced that 90 walk-through metal detectors would be placed in schools across the district, starting with Richneck, where Zwerner was shot Friday.
‘The time is now to put metal detectors in all of our schools,’ board Chairman Lisa Surles-Law told a news conference.
Metal detectors are a U-turn for the school district, as Dr. Parker had previously been against putting them in schools but is ‘re-evaluating’ his position, according to WAVY.
The move came even as educators and other experts nationwide grappled with the complex issue of how to prevent gun violence in even the youngest school populations.
Police vehicles are seen parked outside Richneck Elementary School in Newport News
Dr. Parker told parents he is considering requiring clear plastic backpacks for Richneck students that would be purchased by the district.
‘This is a real game changer,’ said Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, which trains law enforcement members who work in schools.
‘How do we begin to approach the idea of protecting students and staff from an armed 6-year-old?’
Friday’s shooting fuels a debate over the effectiveness of metal detectors – which are still relatively rare in schools – and other safety measures.
Police Chief Steve Drew has described the shooting as intentional. A judge will determine what’s next for the child, who is being held at a medical facility following an emergency custody order.
Drew said the child used his mother’s gun, which had been purchased legally. It´s unclear how he gained access to the weapon. A Virginia law prohibits leaving a loaded gun where it is accessible to a child under 14 as a misdemeanor.
‘She was going to confiscate it, and that’s when he shot,’ Brittaney Gregory, whose son was also in the class, told the Washington Post.
The children then raced out of the classroom and into another one, where they stayed in a lockdown. Zwerner was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries and is now in serious but stable condition.
Abby Zwerner, 25, was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries and is in serious but stable condition
Brittaney Gregory, whose son goes to first grade at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, said the teacher was about to confiscate a gun when she was shot
The boy’s first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner, 25, was rushed to hospital with critical injuries on Friday.
Although the child in still in custody, it is unlikely he will ever be charged with any crime.
‘As a practical matter, it would be next to impossible to prosecute a six-year-old, no matter how serious,’ said Andrew Block, associate professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.
Chief Steve Drew met with Abby Zwerner and her family on Saturday morning and said in a statement her condition is improving
Block noted that the ‘infancy defense,’ means that people younger than seven do not have the mental ability to form the intent to commit a crime.
‘The bigger barrier, presuming the prosecution could overcome that, is all defendants have to be competent to stand trial,’ Block said. ‘That means you have to understand the nature of legal proceedings against you and assist in your own defense. There’s no way a six-year-old would meet that criteria.
‘The juvenile justice system would not be equipped to handle such a young kid.’
An adult could face misdemeanor charges as under Virginia law, guns need to be secured from children under the age of 14.
‘There’s way more we don’t know than we do,’ Block said. ‘I can’t imagine what it’s like to be the teacher or teacher’s family; it’s horrible in every single direction.’
Newport News police chief Steve Drew met with Zwerner and her family on Saturday morning.
Her wounds have been described as life-threatening but her condition is improving and she is now in a serious but stable condition.
Gregory’s son said that the teacher who was shot was his favorite, describing her as bubbly and outgoing.
She was also someone who fostered love and encouragement among her young pupils, sometimes leaving surprise notes in the children’s backpacks.
‘I hope you had a great day,’ one read. ‘I want you to know your smile is contagious,’ said another.
‘She’s such a sweet lady,’ Gregory explained to the Post. ‘She’s very attentive to the kids.’
Her son has had nightmares in the nights since the shooting.
‘He normally sleeps in his own room but the night of the shooting he came into my room. He was talking in his sleep, saying we got to get out of here,’ Gregory said. She is now planning to take her son to a therapist this week.
Gregory believes her son was deeply affected by what he saw and experienced.
‘He’s normally a talker, but he stumbled over his words. I was so relieved,’ she added. ‘But you could tell on his face what he was going through. He was a deer in the headlights.’
‘The individual is a six-year-old student and is right now in police custody,’ Chief Drew said at a press conference on Friday. ‘This was not an accidental shooting.
Abby Zwerner (pictured), 25, a first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School, was rushed to hospital with critical injuries on Friday after she was shot in the chest by a six-year-old boy
Gregory’s son, pictured above, said that the teacher who was shot was his favorite, describing her as ‘bubbly and outgoing’
Zwerner has been described as a teacher who fostered love and encouragement among her young pupils, sometimes leaving surprise notes in the children’s backpacks
‘It was in a classroom, an altercation took place there,’ he said. ‘We did not have a situation where someone was going around the school shooting. We had a situation in one particular location where a gunshot was fired.’
Classes have been canceled on Monday and Tuesday for all of the 550 students at the school which teaches from kindergarten through to the fifth grade.
‘It’s very devastating,’ Gregory said of the shooting, never believing such a thing would be possible in her son’s school. ‘It’s sad that such a young child holds so much anger.’
A crowd of parents waited outside Richneck Elementary School after the 2pm shooting where a six-year-old allegedly shot his teacher on purpose after an ‘altercation’
Zwerner was shot in the chest at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News at 2pm Friday
A grandmother of one of the students told DailyMail.com that a student brought ‘shiny gold bullets’ to school last week, but it is unclear if it is the same child who was taken into custody today.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, she said: ‘The parents outside stated that their child told them a kid brought golden shiny bullets to school and was thinking about bringing his gun. The student told the parent, who informed the school.
‘And the school just yesterday got back to the parent saying the parent of the kid said it was a nerf bullet and the parent said nerf bullets aren’t shiny and gold.’
She was not positive if the child who brought in the ‘bullets’ is the same child allegedly involved in last week’s shooting.
Carlos Glover, nine, (pictured) was seen leaving the school with his mother Joselin after the shooting. A student has been taken into custody, but police have not released the student’s name
The shooting occurred in the classroom and was an isolated incident. Officers are still trying to determine how the boy managed to get the weapon
One parent, Sebastian Gonzalez-Hernandez, confirmed Zwerner’s identity.
He said ‘she screamed at her kids to run away’ after the student fired a single bullet.
‘Even after she’d been shot she was thinking about the safety of her children,’ Gonzalez-Hernandez said.
His own six-year-old, who he did not wish to name, was in the classroom when the gunshot went off.
‘My son didn’t see what happened, he heard the gunshot go off, and turned around to see Miss Zwerner on the floor,’ he told DailyMail.com on Friday.
‘She is an amazing teacher, so dedicated. My son absolutely loves her, and we’re devastated about what’s happened. We are all thinking of her and hoping that she gets better soon.’
