Teacher no longer in danger after toddler (6) shot her
The American teacher Abby Zwerner is no longer in danger, the BBC reports. Zwerner was seriously injured last Friday after she was shot by a six-year-old primary school student.
Philips Jones, mayor of Newport News, reports to the BBC that the primary school teacher is still seriously injured, but that her recovery is going in the right direction. In addition, Jones called the shooting incident involving such a young shooter a “red flag for the country” that needs to wake up America.
Zwerner was shot in the chest in the middle of class at Richneck Elementary School last Friday. A police spokesman emphasized after the shooting incident that “there was no accident here” . According to eyewitnesses, the shooting took place after “an altercation” between the six-year-old shooter and his teacher, US media report. It is still unclear what preceded the altercation and how the boy got the gun.
Police took the six-year-old boy into custody after the shooting and took him to the local police station. According to them, the main focus is on how “this young man himself can best be helped” .
Abby Zwerner, 25, is the elementary school teacher who is hailed a hero for alerting her students to run from danger. She was shot by the 6 year old student.
She is currently in stable condition.
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The management of Richneck Elementary School announced last weekend that the school will remain closed on Monday. The investigation into the cause of the incident is still ongoing.
According to The New York Times, it is rare for the perpetrator of a school shooting to be so young. From a database that keeps track of all school shootings in the US, it can be concluded that since 1970 there have been 16 shooters under the age of ten. It would only have happened three times before the shooter was just six years old. Two out of three incidents with a six-year-old also turned out to be an accident.
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