Abby Zwerner child shooter stole mom’s gun and brought it to school. Police say the 6 year old boy’s parents could face charges if it was shown they failed to take reasonable precautions to secure the weapon, which was legally purchase by the boy’s mother.
Latest revelations have told of the 6 year old boy in Virginia who shot his first grade teacher at an elementary school during class on Friday did so after having stolen his mother’s gun from home and bringing the weapon to school. The shooting comes as it was revealed the gun was legally bought by the child’s mother.
The un-named boy took his mom’s .9mm Taurus handgun from home, stashed it in his backpack and brought it to class at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on Friday afternoon, when he shot 25-year-old instructor Abby Zwerner as she attempted to confiscate the boy’s gun after suddenly pulling the weapon out during class.
In turn, the boy fired off a gunshot, with the loaded weapon leading to a bullet going through one of Zwerner’s hands and striking her upper chest as she ‘took a defensive position,’ Police Chief Steve Drew said during a brief on Monday.
But instead of just thinking of her self, the teacher instead focused on the children in class, whose lives at that moment could have been in real danger.
‘She turned around to make sure every one of those students was safe,’ ushering the roughly 14 to 16 of them out of the room and then stumbling down the hallway herself to the administrative office before collapsing, Drew said.
Virginia school offical was told 6yr old boy had gun 2.5 hours prior shooting but couldn’t find it
“She asked me, first question, ‘Do you know how my students are?’”
Newport News, Va. Police Chief Steve Drew updates condition of Abby Zwerner, 25-year-old teacher he says was shot in chest by 6-year-old student in class on Friday, as she was teaching. @livenowfox pic.twitter.com/soiMD61Jiw
— Josh Breslow (@JoshBreslowTV) January 9, 2023
Virginia 6 year old shoots Abby Zwerner
‘She is a hero,’ he said.
‘Ms. Zwerner was providing classroom instruction when the 6-year-old child displayed a firearm, pointed it at her and fired one round. There was no physical struggle or fight. She was providing instruction to her class,’ the police chief said.
‘From the video surveillance we have of that hallway, you can see the students running out of that classroom across the hall into another classroom. Ms. Zwerner was the last person to leave that class.’
The police chief noted that ‘there was more than one round’ in the gun.
‘I believe the [shooter’s] actions were at, or towards, the teacher, but you never know how someone’s going to react with a firearm – students – and we’re talking about a 6-year-old child,’ Drew said. ‘I don’t know what all was going through that individual’s mind, but what I do know is that [Zwerner] made sure each of those kids were out of the room and she was the last one to leave.
‘I believe she did save lives, because I don’t know what else might have happened if those kids would have stayed in that room.’
‘This shooting was not accidental. It was intentional. And I believe that Ms. Zwerner, Abigail, that she saved lives on Friday,’ the police chief said.
Boy currently undergoing treatment at medical facility
When law-enforcement officers got to the classroom minutes after the shooting, ‘they found a 6-year-old child that was being physically restrained by a school employee’ who was in the hallway when the shot rang out and rushed over, Drew said.
The boy ‘became a little agitated’ and ‘struck the school employee who was restraining him,’ Drew said.
‘The firearm was on the floor,’ Drew said.
The boy was taken into custody, with authorities contacting the boy’s parents, who met cops at police headquarters, where the child and his mother were interviewed.
After consulting with child specialists among others, detectives got an ’emergency custody order’ to have the boy taken to a local hospital for evaluation, Drew said.
The boy is currently under a ‘temporary detention order’ and receiving ‘treatment at a medical facility,’ the chief said.
Richnech elementary school teacher shot trying to confiscate gun, 6 year old Virginia boy unlikely to be charged https://t.co/1X200WB9fj #Abigail Zwerner #Abby Zwerner #Newport News #Newport News shooting #AbbyZwerner
— Scallywagandvagabond (@ScallywagNYC) January 9, 2023
Virginia 6 year old shoots Abby Zwerner
He will appear before a judge within the next eight days to determine what happens next, Drew said.
Drew said it’s unclear whether authorities will attempt to bring charges against any adults in the case.
The police chief said local prosecutors are still determining ‘where the facts are and what the law supports. … They are still trying to put all of that together.
‘The firearm was purchased legally by the child’s mother, and she had the right to do that.
‘A key element for us to determine” is how secure the firearm was in the household,’ he said.
Legal scholars have since said the case now hinges on what safeguards were taken by the boy’s parents to secure the weapon
‘The test should come down to whether or not appropriate steps were taken to safeguard the weapon,’ Virginia criminal defense attorney Steve Duckett told the nypost.
Adding, ‘If they kept [the gun] out in the wide open where anybody could grab it and do something untoward with it, that does expose them potentially to some liability.’
Police Chief Drew didn’t rule out the possibility of charges against the parents but said it was too soon to say as the department is still investigating.
Teacher Abby Zwerner was reportedly giving a lesson when a 6-year-old boy stood up, took out a gun and shot her. Many would think the boy would be sent to a juvenile detention facility, but can a child that young be sent to such a place? https://t.co/awc6A1K5rj
— WUSA9 (@wusa9) January 10, 2023
Infancy defense
Zwerner was critically wounded during Friday’s shooting, with her condition since downgraded to serious but stable condition, with the first grade teacher ‘talking with family and friends,’ the school said in a statement Monday.
The shooting shocked a nation already too resigned by the degree of unrestrained gun violence, including at the hands of kids.
Newport News Public Schools Superintendent George Parker III said Monday that he doesn’t know when the school will reopen.
He added that school officials are now considering putting metal detectors in elementary schools.
Andrew Block, an associate professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, told the Washington Post that the ‘infancy defense’ — in which people under age 7 do not have the ability or mental state to form the intent to commit a crime — would presumably shield the child from prosecution.
Also, ‘you have to understand the nature of legal proceedings against you and assist in your own defense’ to be prosecuted, he said. ‘There’s no way a 6-year-old would meet that criteria.’
Still, the lawyer said an adult could face misdemeanor charges over the kid getting the gun. Under state law, guns have to be kept away from children under age 14.
