6-Year-Old Shoots Virginia Teacher with Handgun, Police Confirm Incident was NOT Accidental

On January 6th, a 6-year-old boy was taken into police custody after he shot his teacher in their Newport News, VA classroom.

"We have been in contact with our commonwealth attorney and some other entities to help us best get services to this young man," Police Chief Steve Drew said during a news conference where he also stated that "this was not an accidental shooting."

According to police, there was an altercation between the teacher and the student, who had the firearm, and a single round was fired. No other students were involved.

Though authorities nor the Newport News public school district did not identify the teacher, Abby Zwerner, her alma mater, James Madison University, did.

In a statement posted to the school's official Facebook page, University President Jonathan R. Alger said:

"All of us as James Madison University are deeply saddened by the reported tragic shooting of JMU alumna Abby Zwerner. JMU is prepared to support those impacted by this incident now and in the weeks to come."

While Zwerner's injuries were originally described as life-threatening at the Friday news conference, a statement released Saturday by the Newport News Police Department updates that she had improved and was now in stable condition, according to the chief who had met with her and her family. [Her twin sister, Hannah Zwerner has launched a GoFundMe to help defray the cost of her healing; more info and donate here.]

"We’ll get the investigation done, there’s questions we’ll want to ask and find out about. I want to know where that firearm came from, what was the situation," said Drew at Friday's news conference, when announcing that an investigation is ongoing.

And Drew isn't the only one perplexed by the details of this case---the bewilderment runs all the way to the top, with Newport News Mayor Phillip D. Jones tweeting, "It is almost impossible to wrap our minds around the fact that a 6 year old 1st grader brought a loaded handgun to school and shot a teacher; however, this is exactly what our community is grappling with today."

Newport News Public Schools Superintendent Dr. George Parker said that he was disheartened and in shock, and called for increased gun safety, saying in a statement, "We need the community’s support, continued support, to make sure that guns are not available to youth and I’m sounding like a broken record today, because I continue to reiterate that: that we need to keep the guns out of the hands of our young people."

In a separate statement, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said his administration offered assistance in response to the shooting and “stand at the ready to help in any way we can.”

Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, VA will remained closed Monday and Tuesday of this week before reopening for students on Wednesday.

Get more information and donate to the healing of Abby Zwerner via GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-healing-of-1st-grade-teacher-abby-zwerner