Virginia Teacher Who Was Shot by 6 Year Old Student Tried to Confiscate Gun, Report

[appalachiablue]

'Virginia teacher who was shot by six-year-old tried to confiscate gun – report,' The Guardian, Jan. 9, 2023. - Abby Zwerner, 25, had life-threatening injuries but is now continuing to improve in hospital -

The Virginia school teacher shot by her six-year-old student was injured after she sought to confiscate the weapon from the child who had revealed the gun in class, a parent of another child in the class has said. Brittaney Gregory, whose son is in the same class as the shooter at Richneck elementary school in Newport News, Virginia, detailed her son’s reaction to the shocking scene to the Washington Post newspaper. Gregory said her son told her he that he felt like he couldn’t breathe when the gun was fired.

Gregory said the class was reading and about to go to art class when the child pulled a handgun from their backpack and pointed it at his teacher, Abby Zwerner. “She was going to confiscate it, and that’s when he shot,” Gregory told the Post. Gregory described Zwerner as a “sweet lady” and “very attentive”. She said Zwerner was her son’s favorite teacher. Zwerner, 25, had injuries described as life-threatening but she is now continuing to improve in the hospital. She was shot in the abdomen through her hand. After she was shot, the teacher told the other students to run. The students stayed in lockdown in another teacher’s classroom.

It is not known how the child came to be in possession of the handgun he used to shoot his teacher. The six-year old remains in custody and Newport News city officials have said it is not likely a child so young can be prosecuted, but his guardian or other adult could face misdemeanor charges if the gun came from the child’s home.

The Newport News mayor, Phillip Jones, said: “Newport News is a strong community, but we are saddened and disheartened by the terrible tragedy that took place at Richneck elementary school. It is almost impossible to wrap our minds around the fact that a six-year-old first-grader brought a loaded handgun to our school and shot a teacher; however, this is exactly what our community is grappling with today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the teacher and her family, and we are hopeful she will recover from this ordeal.” In a statement, Virginia’s governor, Glenn Youngkin, said:.. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/09/virginia-teacher-shot-newport-news-richneck-elementary-abby-zwerner

[Casady1]

1. where is the six year old good guy

with a gun. We need to arm six years olds- wayne Lapierre

[appalachiablue]

7. For sure, the gun nuttery prevails..

[Lucky Luciano]

26. Sascha Baron Cohen one step ahead of you! Twisted and funny.

[rubbersole]

30. This can't be real.

Satire at its best. The NRA should be sued into oblivion. Just sayin'.

[Lucky Luciano]

50. I have no idea how he keeps a straight face playing those pranks.

Funnily enough, Matt Gaetz came across as the least stupid of all his marks in this video.

Joe Walsh was interviewed later explaining how he got duped.

Nothing tops this one though…the humiliation is epic and well deserved:

Roy Moore also lost his lawsuit from this prank:

[Ocelot II]

2. Oh. We were told the other day that the child shot the teacher because

the teacher must have been hitting the children. But I guess she wasn't. It's nice to have evidence before making ridiculous and occasionally defamatory pronouncements...

[appalachiablue]

4. Absolutely, print the gd truth!

[Ocelot II]

6. That allegation appeared on DU

and was apparently a figment of the poster's imagination. I hope we don't see it again.

[appalachiablue]

9. Not again, you and me both..

[maxsolomon]

17. Where was that BS propagated?

did the 1st grader yell "Molon Labe" before shooting?

[Ocelot II]

21. A couple of threads that were removed, fortunately.

[ShazzieB]

46. Glad to hear they were removed!

I didn't see any of that, but it sounds like speculation that got way out of hand. People should be careful about that kind of thing, imo. It can quickly become a slippery slope.

[Effete Snob]

3. Teacher was clearly engaged in a violation of the kid's 2nd Amendment rights

[appalachiablue]

5. Yes, sadly...crazy country

[Irish_Dem]

12. Supreme Court will rule all children have the right to bring loaded guns to school.

And when children shoot and kill their teachers there will be no consequences.
Maybe a parent will get a misdemeanor.

[Effete Snob]

14. The Constitution does not say anything about age limits

Is the kid a person? Yep.

Heck, if they gave firearms to fetuses, then they could fend off abortions by themselves.

[Irish_Dem]

28. Exactly. Kids are Americans.

All Americans get guns.

Oh God. The little picture now in my head of the SC ruling all pregnant women have
to have tiny little guns jammed up their veejays.

[Quakerfriend]

8. I don't think it's right that they are

releasing the teacher’s or other student’s
names- It may put them at further risk.

The parents of the shooter should be in jail-
if the gun was theirs.

[Ocelot II]

10. At risk from whom?

[Effete Snob]

16. Internet loons

[Quakerfriend]

20. This! n/t

[Ocelot II]

22. Everybody is at risk from internet loons.

[Effete Snob]

32. Pretty much anyone whose name pops up in a media-saturation story gets death threats

It's bizarre how that phenomenon gets treated here, since whether the "so and so is getting death threats" trope is taken seriously on DU frequently depends on who it is. If the target is someone we don't like then it is "false flag" and "trolls", but if if is someone we like then it is to be taken as sincere.

There are people who simply harass anyone who appears in the media for any reason.

[GenXer47]

11. mental health screening and other feeble half-measures

are moot in this case. It happened because we awash with guns.
When you do the math, by the time this kid graduates from high school, there will be well over a billion guns in a country of 350 million.
Guns don't rot, they don't rust, they don't expire like yogurt. The are cumulative and we will soon have enough to fill evaporated Lake Tahoe.
This is the right wing fever dream we are living under and I hate it.

[appalachiablue]

31. +1

[LakeArenal]

13. Misdemeanor???????

“I almost died and all the gun owner got was a fine or community service?”
Ay ay ay!!!!

[blueinredohio]

18. That was my thought too.

Give them a fine that will teach them.

[Blues Heron]

15. It is almost impossible to wrap our minds around the fact that a six-year-old first-grader brought a

It is almost impossible to wrap our minds around the fact that a six-year-old first-grader brought a loaded handgun to our school and shot a teacher;
-Newport News mayor, Phillip Jones,


Why is it impossible? Kids get their hands on guns every day in this firearm-saturated land. Best get wrapping- this kind of thing isn’t even remotely far fetched, it’s an inevitable consequence of having so many guns with so few restrictions.

[appalachiablue]

19. +1 scary as hell

[Ocelot II]

23. A kid that age doesn't understand what it really means

to shoot someone with a gun. He's probably seen a lot of gun violence on tv but he's too young to understand what's real and what isn't - he's learned only that the people on tv use guns to get their way or to solve arguments. If his parents kept a loaded gun in their home and didn't secure it, it was their fault that the kid brought it to school, maybe just to show off with even if he didn't intend to shoot anybody in the first place. This sort of thing happens far too often and it's always the fault of careless adults.

[Blues Heron]

24. Exactly, but it's not hard to wrap one's mind around it. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more.

[70sEraVet]

43. I suspect that the kid didn't even know it was a real gun. HE'S/SHE'S SIX!

And when the teacher tried to take it away, there's the possibility that SHE didn't realize it was a real gun.
And this is absolutely ludicrous that leaving a LOADED gun in a home with small children is only a misdemeanor charge! The NRA writes the gun laws in our country.

[TheRealNorth]

53. When I was a kid in the 80's....

I don't think we were allowed to bring toy guns to school either.

[Wicked Blue]

33. Look at Virginia's loose gun laws

My BIL moved from NJ to Richmond. He says he is shocked to see assault rifles carried openly in supermarkets, etc.

No doubt this child has seen terrible examples of people carrying guns his entire life

[Cha]

25. The kid's parents should be

brought on more Charges than a "misdemeanor.

[Tikki]

27. Any adult or any aged person who *legally owned that gun should be held responsible

for that child being in possession of that weapon.
I don’t care if it was a neighbor’s gun or some extended family’s gun or a friend of the family’s gun.
It wasn’t secured…they are responsible.

Tikki
*even illegally if they can prove who illegally had possession of the gun.

[TheRealNorth]

29. What is the Republican solution?

When the 6-year old pulls the gun, the teacher pulls their own gun and shoots the 6 year-old?

[GreenWave]

36. What the "news" was reporting a few days back:

THe gunman is too young to be tried as an adult.
He is also too young to be tried as a juvenile.
It is doubtful the parents get custody of him again.

[Diamond_Dog]

34. Substitute "school" for "the mall" in this cartoon.

[GreenWave]

35. The story just keeps evolving.

First she was early 30's, then 30 now 25.
Shot in the chest, now in the abdomen.
Reporters! Do some research!

[irisblue]

37. That she is alive after a gut shot is freaking amazing.

[twodogsbarking]

38. Everything is fine, they sent thoughts and prayers.

[TheRealNorth]

40. I hear thoughts and prayers are really good at healing bullet wounds...

Along with faith and ivermectin.

[raging moderate]

39. Is there a GoFundMe for Abby Zwerner?

Her heroic effort to take that gun away may have saved the lives of several children.

[OMGWTF]

41. Rethuglican governor is "...praying for the continued safety of all students ..."

That little kid could have easily shot a classmate. Fk you! How about praying for the full recovery of the teacher who was shot and doing something about guns?

[ShazzieB]

47. The governor of VA is Youngkin, right?

He's a loon. I'm not surprised that he'd say something like that.

[AllyCat]

42. Misdemeanor???? The idiot parents might get charged with a misdemeanor?

WTH?? Criminal liability seems fair for these gun nuts.

[70sEraVet]

45. I agree100%. On the bright side, the teacher should be able to sue whoever owns the weapon.

[barbtries]

44. whoever made a loaded gun

available to a six year old should face prison time. jeezus this is truly insane.

[ShazzieB]

48. This part is confusing me.

It is not known how the child came to be in possession of the handgun he used to shoot his teacher. The six-year old remains in custody and Newport News city officials have said it is not likely a child so young can be prosecuted, but his guardian or other adult could face misdemeanor charges if the gun came from the child’s home.

Anyone else think it's weird that they still haven't figured out where the kid got the gun? Are family members refusing to talk, or did the gun actually not come from the kid's home? And what does the kid say? A 6 year old is old enough to answer questions about how they got hold of a thing.

Just scratching my head over why this is turning out to be so hard to get to the bottom of. 🤔

[TheRealNorth]

52. Maybe the gun is unregistered/doesn't have a paper trail?

You would presume the police would ask the kid where he got the gun, but who knows if the parents lawyered up quickly and prevented any questioning of the child.

[ShazzieB]

54. Yeah, I thought of that. 🙁

I sure hope they can get to the bottom of it.

[appalachiablue]

49. Another issue to cause even more teachers to leave public, 'govt.' schools. Tragic.

[twodogsbarking]

51. Bring your gun to school day may not be a good idea.

Maybe Congress can start an investigation. Special committee, yada.