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The injury to the teacher, a woman in her 30s, was considered
life-threatening, though she had shown some improvement in the
hospital, Police Chief Steve Drew told reporters.
There was no further explanation for how a 6-year-old acquired the
handgun. Police described it as an "altercation" in the first-grade
classroom that resulted in one shot fired.
"This was not an accidental shooting," Drew said, later adding: "I
want to know where that firearm came from."
The boy was in custody, Drew said.
No students were injured. They were moved to a gymnasium for their
safety, and counselors were made available, Drew said.
"They are safe. They are interacting with officers and having some
fun, slapping some high fives and teasing each other," Drew said.
Students were reunited with their parents under a school escort,
Drew said.
"Right now it's still raw, but what I will tell you is there's going
to be a full after-action (report), not only internally from the
city council with the school board and others, but we are going to
ensure that we have the right steps and policies so that this
doesn't happen again," Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones told
reporters.
In the same news conference, schools superintendent George Parker
lamented educators' inability to keep guns out of school, saying he
was "shocked" and "disheartened".
"We need to keep guns out of the hands of our young people," Parker
said. "I cannot control access to weapons. My teachers cannot
control access to weapons."
Parker said all school campuses are equipped for random metal
detector searches but they were not deployed at Richneck Elementary
on Friday.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Josie Kao and Jacqueline
Wong)
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