Police: Six-Year-Old Shoots Teacher At Virginia School
A six-year-old boy reportedly shot a teacher with a handgun at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., on Friday afternoon during an altercation inside a first-grade classroom.
Facts
- A six-year-old boy reportedly shot a teacher with a handgun at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., on Friday afternoon during an altercation inside a first-grade classroom.
- While the teacher suffered life-threatening injuries and is recuperating at a local hospital, the student was sent to police custody on Friday evening, chief of the Newport News Police Department Steve Drew said.
- Though police and school officials didn't provide further details about the shooting, they noted that it wasn't an accident, and investigators are currently trying to find out how the child obtained the weapon.
- Virginia law doesn't allow six-year-olds to be tried as adults. However, a juvenile judge may revoke his parent's custody and place him under the purview of the Department of Social Services if he's found guilty.
- The shooting comes a few weeks after the US commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting, which killed 20 children and six school staff on Dec 14, 2012.
- According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, since 1970, there have been 16 incidents involving a gun going off where the shooter is under 10 years old, three of whom were under the age of six, and one where the shooter was younger than five.
Sources: Al Jazeera, New York Times, NPR Online News, and BBC News.
Narratives
- Democratic narrative, as provided by Newsweek. Friday's shooting is a lesson in gun violence and must renew calls for more significant gun restrictions in the US. This isn't a local issue but rather a larger problem that requires political courage at the federal level. School shootings will not stop until elected leaders take meaningful action and stand up to the gun lobbyists.
- Republican narrative, as provided by Fee. While stricter gun laws haven't been proven to prevent shootings like this, such laws have been shown to strip law-abiding gun owners of their constitutionally-protected rights. The gun violence epidemic in the US is a symptom of a broader mental health crisis, so there should be a concerted effort to address the core sociological problems that lead to acts like these.
- Narrative C, as provided by Health. There's no tangible link between mental health and gun violence. School shootings represent a small percentage of all gun violence, and mental illness is not a factor in most. Blaming mental health issues prevents the government from finding real solutions and stigmatizes those with mental health disorders.
