The US school where a six-year-old shot his teacher had previously been warned he may have been armed and searched his bag but found nothing, local authorities told Agence France-Presse on Friday.
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A week ago, a student at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, injured his teacher, 25-year-old Abigail Zwerner, with a gun legally purchased from his mother.
In a virtual meeting Thursday night with the facility’s parents, school board chief George Parker revealed to them that the school had previously been notified “of the possible presence of a weapon” in this student’s school bag.
He told them that “the bag had been searched by an employee […] and that no weapon was found,” spokeswoman Michelle Price told AFP, confirming information from local broadcaster Wavy TV.
“A school employee had been notified of the possible presence of a weapon prior to the shooting, but Newport News police had not been alerted,” school emergency services spokeswoman Kelly King told AFP.
Authorities did not say how they knew the student might be armed.
A few hours after this search, the child pulled out a 9mm Taurus pistol and opened fire on his teacher. His condition was critical at the time of his hospitalization but then stabilized.
Local authorities have decided to temporarily remove his parents’ custody of the child and commit him to a medical center pending a decision on possible prosecution.
Considering his young age, he should be considered criminally irresponsible, although police described the shooting as “premeditated”.
His parents, on the other hand, could be charged with violating a local law that prohibits making loaded guns accessible to children under the age of 14.
School shootings regularly plague the United States, where nearly 400 million guns are in circulation. The latest tragedy dates back to May when a teenager killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
But it’s very rare for Sagittarians to be that young. According to the database of researcher David Riedman, who is a reference on the subject, about fifteen children under the age of ten have opened fire in schools since the 1970s.