Six-year-old boy shoots teacher in Virginia school

Virginia: A six-year-old boy has left his teacher, a woman in her 30s, with life-threatening injuries after shooting her during an altercation inside a first-grade classroom, cops said.

According to details, the boy shot and wounded the teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News in the eastern US state of Virginia on Friday. 

The woman is believed to have sustained life-threatening injuries but her health has considerably improved in the hospital, said officials. 

Luckily, no other students or staff members were injured in the shootout and they were moved to a gymnasium for their safety.  

The incident is being described by officials as "an altercation" and "not an accident", at Richneck Elementary School in Virginia.

But the local officials, in a state of worry, vowed to find answers and prevent such an event from happening again.

"The individual is a six-year-old student. He is right now in police custody," Police Chief Steve Drew told the press, adding that 'this was not an accidental shooting'. 

However, there was no further explanation for how a 6-year-old acquired the handgun. 

Virginia law does not allow six-year-olds to be tried as adults. In addition, the boy is too young to be committed to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice if found guilty.

A juvenile judge would have the authority, though, to revoke a parent’s custody and place a child under the purview of the Department of Social Services.

In 2000, a six-year-old boy fired a bullet from a .32-calibre gun inside Buell Elementary near Flint, Michigan, striking another six-year-old, in the neck. She died a half-hour later.