Teacher shot by six-year-old ‘as she tried to confiscate gun,’ parent reveals
9 January 2023, 12:28 | Updated: 9 January 2023, 12:31
A teacher was shot in the chest by a six-year-old pupil just as she was going to take the gun from his hands, a parent has said.
Abby Zwerner, 25, was rushed to hospital after the shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, on Friday.
She was praised by parents as a hero after they'd heard she instinctively screamed for children to flee after she was hit, and is now no longer in a critical condition.
Ms Zwerner had just finished reading students a story and was about to go to an art class when the child pulled the handgun.
It is still unclear how the boy - who is now in police custody - managed to get hold of the firearm.
“She was going to confiscate it, and that’s when he shot,” said Brittaney Gregory, whose son was in the class at the time of the attack.
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Describing how her child is "still in shock" and has been having nightmares, she told the Washington Post: “He normally sleeps in his own room but the night of the shooting he came into my room. He was talking in his sleep, saying we got to get out of here.”
She described Ms Zwerner as her son's favourite teacher, describing her as a "sweet lady" who is "very attentive to the kids".
Richneck Elementary School, which has around 550 pupils, will stay closed all week to give students and parents "time to heal".
Authorities said the school has metal detecting capabilities but does not routinely subject pupils to tests.
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Police are yet to say what might have motivated the attack, but chief Steve Drew told reporters it followed an "altercation" in a classroom and did not appear to be "accidental".
One fifth grade pupil who was in another classroom described the moment the school was put on lockdown.
She told CNN: "I was scared… It was like my first lockdown and I didn't know what to do, so I just hid under my desk like everybody was."