Six-Year-Old Shoots Teacher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On June 07, 2022, I had published a post about a 12-year-old who committed an armed robbery at a Hartford gas station in Michigan, USA. 

 

Now, it has emerged from that same country, a six-year-old first-grader at Richneck Elementary School in the city of Newport News, which is about 70 miles (112km) to the south of Virginia’s state capital Richmond, had shot a teacher on Friday during an altercation in a classroom, leaving her with “life-threatening” injuries and renewing calls for greater gun restrictions. 

 

Curtis Bethany, a councilperson for the city, said Newport News was dealing with “unchartered” territory. “I’ve never heard of a 6-year-old going to school with a loaded gun”. 

 

David Riedman, who founded the K-12 School Shooting Database after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, has compiled data on every school shooting – anytime a firearm has been discharged on school property – dating back to 1970. He found 16 cases involving shooters under the age of 10! 

 

According to Riedman’s research, there has been only one shooting at a school that involved someone under 6 years old: a kindergartner, aged 5, shot a gun in the cafeteria of his school in Memphis, Tennessee in 2013. No one was injured. 

 

The violent episode in Newport News underscored the persistent threat of gun violence at schools across the country. In May, I had blogged about a mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas – refer to my post “America is Really Sick” published May 26, 2022 – but there were many other shooting incidents in schools I did not even report. 

 

I had seen one news piece that last year was already the worst year on record. As of October 24, there had been 257 shootings on school campuses – passing the 250 total for all of 2021 (The Conversation, October 25, 2022). The rising annual tally of school shootings has occurred despite enhanced school security in the two decades since the Columbine massacre. Metal detectors, clear backpacks, bulletproof chalkboards, lockdown apps, automatic door locks and cameras have not stopped the rise in school shootings. 

 

America is where guns rule! 

 

Holders Liverpool were undone by two defensive blunders that allowed Wolverhampton Wanderers to claim a 2-2 draw and a replay from their FA Cup third-round tie at Anfield yesterday.