The gun a 6-year-old used to shoot his teacher in Newport News, Virginia earlier this month was “secured,” the lawyer for the student’s family said Thursday.
Authorities already knew the gun with which the unidentified boy shot teacher Abigail Zwerner on Jan. 6 had been legally purchased, but it has never been clear how the child got hold of the firearm.
“Our family has always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of children,” the family said in their first statement since the shooting. “The firearm our son accessed was secured.”
The child “suffers from an acute disability and was under a care plan at the school that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day,” the family added. The noted that it “was the first week when we were not in class with him. We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives.”
The shooting happened at Richneck Elementary School at about 2 p.m., when the child took out a gun, pointed it at Zwerner, 25, and fired. The bullet hit her in the hand and in the chest. She got the children to safety before calling for help for herself.
Zwerner is recovering in a hospital. The parents have not been charged.
Richneck administrators had searched the child’s backpack before school that day, but had not found a gun.
With News Wire Services
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At some point
Secured how? In a lock box that the kid KNEW where it was and where the key was?
Secured with one of those child proof locks?
OR just tucked under a pillow?