WASHINGTON, Jan 26: A 6-year old boy brought his mother's gun to the Richneck
Elementary School in Virginia and his classmate who saw it in his pocket reported
the matter to a teacher who in turn informed the school administrator, but nobody
took it seriously. Not much later, he shot at his teacher in the classroom,
the teacher's lawyer disclosed on Wednesday. This incident had happened on January
6.
When the boy had gone out during a break, a teacher had checked his bag but
the gun was not there. It was in his pocket but when told about it, the administrator
dismissed the suggestion saying, "Well, he has little pockets." Yet another
student had reported to another teacher that the boy had threatened him with
a gun he was carrying in his pocket during the break. This teacher too reported
it to the administrator!
Later, when the class resumed at 2 pm, he took out the gun and shot at his
teacher Ms Abigail Zwerner, 25, in the chest. She was discharged from hospital
last week.
The police found a 9mm Taurus pistol at his desk. However, they have not yet
made a case. The boy has been detained and the school is shut for now. The incident
has shocked the city of Newport News.
"On that day, over the course of a few hours, three different times - three
times - school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees
that the boy had a gun on him at school and was threatening people. But the
administration could not be bothered," said the teacher's attorney Ms Diane
Toscano.
According to reports, the boy's parents said he was suffering from an "acute
disability" and he used to attend school along with a parent only but on the
fateful day he was alone.
It has been found that the gun was legally purchased by his mother. The boy
could be charged in a juvenile court. But here the accused is 6 and juveniles
below 11 years cannot be awarded a prison sentence in Virginia. He is currently
in a medical facility. His parents may be charged for not securing the pistol
from falling into the hands of kids, but the law is vague.
Although shooting by children in schools have become a frequent incident, kids
as young as six using guns has been very rare. A six-year old boy shot dead
his classmate at a Michigan school in February 2000. The K-12 School Shooting
Database shows 18 school shootings were by children under 9 during the last
half a century. Around 4 million homes in the US have unsecured guns.
Mass shootings in the month of January alone claimed 69 lives in the US. On
Monday eight people were killed in three shootings in California, two in Iowa
and three in Washington. On Saturday, 11 people were shot dead at a Chinese
Lunar New Year festival in Los Angeles in California.
