Age of Virginia class shooter presents rarity, legal hurdle
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) ” A educational organization shooting that Virginia police said was committed by a 6-year-old student represents an extremely infrequent occurrence of a young child bringing a firearm into educational organization with every one other accompanied by wounding a teacher, according to experts who learning firearm violence.
The male child report with every one other accompanied by wounded the teacher inside a first-grade classroom on Friday at Richneck Elementary School inside Newport News, according to authorities. The police leader said the shooting was not fortuitous with every one other accompanied by was small portion of an altercation nevertheless didn™t elaborate further. No students were injured.
A educational organization shooting involving a 6-year-old is extremely rare, although not unheard of, accompanied by at least one other high-profile example of a 6-year-old inside Michigan shooting a fellow student inside 2000, experts said. Meanwhile, Virginia rules and regulations limits the ways inside which a child that number of years tin exist punished for such a crime.
There are students who killed teachers, additional typically high educational organization students, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Boston™s Northeastern University. I don™t know of other cases where a 6-year-old report a teacher.
Fox said he was aware of only one other educational organization shooting involving a student that age. In 2000, a 6-year-old male child fired a bullet from a .32-caliber firearm inside Buell Elementary near Flint, Michigan, 60 miles (96 kilometers) from Detroit, striking a 6-year-old girl who subsequent died from her wound.
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Police: 6-year-old shoots teacher inside Virginia classroom
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Fox analyzed educational organization shooting facts going spine to 1970 from the Center for Homeland Defense with every one other accompanied by Security, which is located at the Naval Postgraduate School inside Monterey, California. He said the facts listed educational organization shootings involving children ages 7, 8, 9 with every one other accompanied by older, nevertheless not 6-year-olds.
From 2010 into and not here of 2021, there were additional than 800 school-related shootings inside K-12 schools that associated accompanied by 1,149 victims. Thirty percent of those occurred inside the educational organization building, Fox said.
Daniel W. Webster, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who studies firearm violence, agreed that a 6-year-old shooting a teacher inside a educational organization is extremely unusual. But he said his research shows that instances of young children accessing loaded guns with every one other accompanied by shooting themselves or others unintentionally inside homes or other settings are rising.
A 6 year elderly gaining access to a loaded firearm with every one other accompanied by shooting him/herself or someone else, sadly, is not so rare, he said inside an email.
In the Newport News case, Police Chief Steve Drew said Friday that the teacher suffered life-threatening injuries nevertheless that her condition had improved somewhat by late Friday afternoon. He said the shooting didn™t become visible to exist an accident with every one other accompanied by that it was isolated to the single victim. He said the student with every one other accompanied by teacher had known every one other inside a classroom setting.
We did not have a circumstances where someone was going around the educational organization shooting, Drew told reporters.
He said the male child had a handgun inside the classroom, with every one other accompanied by investigators were trying to figure not here where he obtained it.
Parents with every one other accompanied by students were reunited at a gymnasium door, Newport News Public Schools said via Facebook.
The police leader did not specifically address questions concerning whether authorities were inside be in touch accompanied by the boy™s parents, nevertheless said members of the police dividing were handling that investigation.
We have been inside touch accompanied by our commonwealth™s attorney (local prosecutor) with every one other accompanied by some other entities to assist us finest obtain services to this young man, Drew said.
Newport News is a city of concerning 185,000 people inside southeastern Virginia known for its shipyard, which builds the nation™s aircraft carriers with every one other accompanied by other U.S. Navy vessels.
Richneck has concerning 550 students who are inside kindergarten into and not here of fifth grade, according to the Virginia Department of Education™s website. School officials have by that hour dated said that there will exist no indeed classes at the educational organization on Monday.
Today our students got a lesson inside firearm violence, said George Parker III, Newport News schools superintendent, with every one other accompanied by what guns tin do to disrupt, not only an educational environment, nevertheless too a family, a community.
Virginia rules and regulations does not permit 6-year-olds to exist tried while adults.
In addition, a 6-year-old is excessively young to exist committed to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice if found guilty.
A juvenile judge would have authority, though, to revoke a parent™s custody with every one other accompanied by place a child under the purview of the Department of Social Services.
___ Associated Press Writer Matthew Barakat inside Falls Church contributed to this report.
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