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Tag: USAVA

  • Virginia school official knew 6-year-old who shot teacher may have had gun

    Virginia school official knew 6-year-old who shot teacher may have had gun

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    Jan 13 (Reuters) – At least one administrator at the Virginia school where a 6-year-old boy shot a teacher last week was aware the boy may have had a gun, but no weapon was found when the boy’s backpack was searched before the shooting, school officials said on Friday.

    Superintendent George Parker told parents at Rickneck Elementary School during a virtual meeting on Thursday that a school administrator learned the boy may have had a gun, according to Michelle Price, a spokeswoman for Newport News Public Schools. The information was first reported by Virginia’s WAVY TV.

    The administrator has not been identified nor is it clear exactly how they learned the boy may have had a gun.

    Once alerted, school officials searched the boy’s backpack, but did not find the gun. Why the gun was not found at that time has not been explained. The shooting took place about 2-1/2 hours after the boy’s backpack was searched.

    Abigail Zwerner, a 25-year-old teacher, was shot a week ago by the young student. Police hailed the teacher as a hero earlier this week for managing to evacuate students from her classroom even after she was shot. Police on Friday said Zwerner’s last known condition was stable.

    The boy who shot Zwerner was in the custody of the Newport News Department of Human Services, police said.

    Police said the investigation is continuing and once complete, they will present findings to the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Newport News, who would make any decision regarding possible charges against the boy’s mother.

    The mother legally purchased the 9 mm Taurus handgun, police have said, but could face misdemeanor charges if it’s found she did not properly secure the weapon in her home.

    The boy took the handgun from his home, placed it in his backpack and removed it while Zwerner was teaching class, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said earlier this week. The boy pointed the gun at the teacher and fired once. Zwerner was shot through the hand and into the chest.

    After the shot, another woman who works at the school rushed into the classroom and held the boy down while Zwerner escorted the estimated 16 to 20 students out, Drew said. When police arrived, they found the gun on the floor.

    Parker previously told reporters the school was unprepared for a 6-year-old bringing a gun to school and firing it, saying this marked only the third time since 1970 that a child aged 6 or younger had discharged a weapon at a U.S. school.

    The Newport News school board on Thursday announced that metal detectors would be installed in every school in the city following the shooting.

    Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Three members of University of Virginia football team slain in shooting, suspect in custody

    Three members of University of Virginia football team slain in shooting, suspect in custody

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    Nov 14 (Reuters) – A suspect in a shooting at the University of Virginia that left three members of the University of Virginia football team dead was in custody on Monday, hours after he allegedly opened fire on a bus full of students returning from a field trip.

    University police said during a news conference that the suspect, student Christopher Darnell Jones, 22, was arrested hours after the shooting that unfolded at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday (0330 GMT on Monday) at the school in Charlottesville, Virginia, attended by 25,000 students.

    Minutes after the shooting, school officials issued alerts on social media telling students and staff to shelter in place with one tweet saying to “RUN HIDE FIGHT.” The sprawling campus remained on alert throughout the night and morning as law enforcement officers conducted a massive manhunt for Jones.

    University President Jim Ryan identified the slain students as Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis and D’Sean Perry.

    Chandler and Perry died on the scene, while Davis died of his wounds at a hospital. Two other students were wounded and taken to UVA Medical Center, where one is in good condition and another in critical condition, University Police Chief Tim Longo said.

    The shooting unfolded on a bus full of students after it pulled into a parking garage on campus, Ryan said. The students had just returned from a class field trip to see a play in Washington, D.C.

    Jones was armed with a handgun, Longo said.

    Jones, who was apprehended off campus, was held on three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, Longo said. It was unclear how he was taken into custody.

    [1/6] A handout picture shows college football player Lavel Davis Jr. who was killed in a shooting attack at the University of Virginia, in this undated handout. University of Virginia/Handout via REUTERS

    ‘HEARTBROKEN’

    Jones, who was listed as a player on the school’s football team in 2018, came to the attention of the University of Virginia’s threat assessment team in the fall of 2022, according to Longo. In September 2022, the Office of Student Affairs reported to the team that it received information Jones had made a comment about possessing a gun to a person that was unaffiliated with the university, though no threat was made.

    During an investigation, the person said they never saw the gun, and Jones’ roommate reported that he never saw the presence of a weapon.

    The investigation was later closed because the witnesses would not participate with the process, he said.

    Ryan said in a letter posted on social media hours after the shooting that he was “heartbroken,” and added that classes were canceled for the day.

    “This is a message any leader hopes never to have to send, and I am devastated that this violence has visited the University of Virginia,” he wrote.

    The shooting was the latest episode of gun violence on U.S. college and high school campuses. The bloodshed has fueled debate over tighter restrictions on access to guns in the United States, where the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms.

    A 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, about 150 miles (241 km) southwest of Charlottesville, left 33 people dead, including the shooter, and 23 injured in one of the deadliest college mass shootings in U.S. history.

    (This story has been corrected to add Davis’ name in fifth paragraph)

    Reporting by Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Toby Chopra, Chizu Nomiyama, Jonathan Oatis and Aurora Ellis

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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