According to the New York Times, a 6-year old boy shot his teacher at Richneck Elementary school in Newport, Virginia on Friday, January 6.
Initial officials thought the incident would be another mass shooting. This was a scene that is similar to Sandy Hook or Uvalde. But this tragedy turned out to be a school shooting involving an extremely young child.
Newport News Police Department said that a sixth-grader shot his teacher Friday afternoon. They also released that it was, “not an accidental shooting.” The boy and the teacher involved in the shooting had been involved in an altercation in a classroom before the boy shot the teacher. The boy and how he got the gun have not been revealed.
The teacher suffered “life-threatening” injuries but by Saturday she was in stable condition.
While teachers and children waited in fear at the school’s doors, parents waited at a nearby church for information. It’s reported that a medic was also called there because some parents were, “hyperventilating as they waited for information.”
This is the first school shooting in 2023. However, the United States suffered the most school shooting-related deaths and injuries in 2022.
Parents were interviewed by news stations that covered the terrible incident. This viral clip, in which a mother expresses her outrage, has more than 9 million views.
“Let’s do something. Let’s change it. You’ve got a beautiful country. You’ve got beautiful people. But what’s the problem? Guns,” she says.
“The problem is the bloody guns. I’m only here because my husband is in the military. Otherwise I would not have chosen to come to this country,” she continues.”
Richneck Elementary serves more than 500 students from kindergarten through fifth grade. Newport News, located in southeast Virginia, is home to a large military population.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (K-12 School Shooting Database), there have been 59 incidents that involved guns in elementary schools between 2020-2021. In 2016, this number was in the single digits.
It can feel extremely scary to drop your kids off for school in the morning, especially in a country where the gun laws don’t seem to be reflective of the state of things. Below is an age-by – age guide to how to talk with your children about school shootings.
