Boy, 6, who shot Virginia teacher used mother’s legally owned gun, police say
A six-year-old pupil who shot his teacher used a gun that belonged to his mother and was legally owned, police have said.
Authorities said there was no fight or physical struggle before the boy opened fire on Abby Zwerner as she taught a lesson at a school in the US state of Virginia.
Police chief Steve Drew said the boy had taken the 9mm handgun from his family home in a backpack on the day of the shooting.
Providing the first detailed description of a shooting that has shocked the city of Newport News and a country now accustomed to gun violence, he told a news conference: “What we know today is that she was providing instruction. He displayed a firearm, he pointed it and he fired one round.”
Mr Drew had previously said the shooting was not accidental and had declined to elaborate.
He said he wanted to clarify remarks he made just after the incident on Friday, when he said there was an “altercation” before the shooting.
The officer said it was more like an “interaction” between the boy and his 25-year-old first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School.
But he also reiterated that the shooting was “not accidental.”
“It was intentional,” he said.
Teacher hailed a hero
Ms Zwerner put up her hand in a defensive position when the weapon fired, and the bullet went through her hand and into her upper chest, Mr Drew added.
While her injuries were initially considered life-threatening, she has improved and is currently listed in stable condition at a hospital.
Mr Drew hailed Ms Zwerner as a hero for quickly ushering her students out of the classroom after she was shot, saying surveillance video showed she was the last person to leave her classroom.
“She made a right turn and started down the hallway, and then she stopped… She turned around and make sure every one of those students was safe,” the police chief said.
Mr Drew said a school employee rushed into the classroom and physically restrained the boy after hearing the gunshot.
He said the boy became “a little combative” and struck the employee, but police officers arrived and escorted him out of the building and into a police car.
The child has been held at a medical facility since an emergency custody order and temporary detention order were issued on Friday, Mr Drew said.
He said a judge would decide what the next steps are for the boy. His mother has been interviewed by police, but it is currently unclear whether she could potentially face any charges.
A vigil was held for teacher Abby Zwerner. Pic: AP
As questions loomed about the child and his mother, Ms Zwerner’s friend told a crowd gathered at a vigil on Monday night that the first-grade teacher has shown “dedication and love for what she does day in and day out”.
Rosalie List, a 2nd grade teacher at Richneck, said: “Abby is a warrior and she demonstrates mental and physical strength every day. I’m so proud of her.”
Lauren Palladini, Richneck’s school counsellor, told the crowd that Ms Zwerner was “sweet”.
“She’s thoughtful. She’s caring. And she’s been one of the most amazing teachers that I’ve been blessed to interact with,” the school counsellor added.
Amanda Bartley, who teaches at another elementary school in the city, asked everyone to pray for the injured teacher and to “pray for the young man who did this.”
Speaking to reporters, she said many questions remained unanswered.
She said: “How did he get the gun? Why wasn’t it locked up? A good gun owner knows that you lock up your weapon. You have a safety on. You keep the ammunition separate from the weapon itself.”
What will happen to mother and boy now?
Gun owners can be prosecuted under a Virginia law that prohibits anyone from recklessly leaving a loaded, unsecured gun in a manner that endangers the life or limb of children under 14.
A violation of that law is a misdemeanour, punishable by a maximum jail sentence of one year and a maximum fine of $2,500.
Virginia does not have a law that requires unattended guns to be stored in a particular way or a law that requires gun owners to affirmatively lock their weapons.
“Virginia definitely has a weaker law than many other states that have child access prevention laws,” said Allison Anderman, senior counsel and director of local policy at Giffords Law Centre to Prevent Gun Violence.
Legal experts said that even though it was theoretically possible under Virginia law to criminally charge a six-year-old child, there are numerous obstacles to doing so and that it was highly unlikely that any prosecutor would even try.
“It’s virtually impossible to imagine a six-year-old being found competent to stand trial,” said Andrew Block, a professor and the University of Virginia School of Law, who was the director of Virginia’s Department of Juvenile Justice from 2014 to 2019.
Thousands have fled parts of Gaza City in recent days amid airstrikes and advancing Israeli troops, new satellite imagery shows.
Israel’s advance comes as it prepares to mount a full-scale invasion of the city, where the UN says around one million Palestinians are sheltering.
Satellite imagery shows that entire tent camps in southeast Gaza City were emptied between 9 and 17 August as families fled the renewed attacks.
The video below shows the moment of an airstrike in southeastern Gaza City on 13 August. Sky News geolocated the footage to a building less than 200 metres from a major tent camp.
Another video, taken on 15 August, shows a strike on a building right next to the camp.
By the following day, almost all the camp’s residents had fled, along with people sheltering at 30 other locations in the area.
Fresh vehicle tracks in the area indicate extensive troop movements on the ground.
The satellite image below, taken on 17 August, shows at least nine military vehicles in the streets surrounding one former tent camp.
Sky News counted 58 military vehicles in the area on 17 August, including 17 bulldozers.
The image below shows four IDF vehicles, including a bulldozer, parked next to the remains of one tent camp. Several nearby buildings had been levelled in the days beforehand.
Between 9 and 17 August, at least 132 buildings were destroyed in less than one square kilometre of the city.
It’s unclear how much of the destruction was carried out by IDF bulldozers and how much was a result of airstrikes.
On Monday, eyewitnesses reported that Israeli tanks had made further advances into eastern Gaza City.
The advances came as Hamas said it had approved a ceasefire deal presented by mediators Egypt and Qatar. Israel has yet to respond to the proposal.
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his country’s military to prepare for a full-scale invasion and occupation of the city in order to “free Gaza from Hamas”.
The UN has said that the invasion risks “catastrophic consequences” for the estimated one million Palestinians sheltering in the city, while UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the plan would “only bring more bloodshed”.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
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Andrew and Dawn Searle: Actor son of ‘murder-suicide’ victim urges late mother’s friends not to attend stepfather’s funeral
An actor and musician whose mother was the victim of a suspected murder-suicide in France has urged her friends not to attend his stepfather’s funeral.
Callum Kerr, who starred in Hollyoaks and Netflix’s Virgin River, said it would be “inappropriate” for the memory of his mum to be associated with a service honouring the man who “may have been responsible for her death”.
The bodies of British couple Andrew and Dawn Searle were discovered on 6 February at their home in the hamlet of Les Pesquies.
Mrs Searle’s body was found outside the property with a significant head injury, while Mr Searle’s body was discovered inside.
The couple lived in the hamlet of Les Pesquies
Officers locked down the scene following the February incident
Prosecutors later ruled the incident to be murder-suicide due to a lack of evidence that someone else was involved.
In an Instagram post on behalf of himself and his sister, Amanda Kerr, Mr Kerr said: “In the absence of any evidence suggesting third-party involvement in the tragic death of our mother, Dawn Kerr, the prevailing hypothesis remains that of a murder-suicide.”
Mr Kerr, a country music singer who is also set to appear in the second season of Netflix’s One Piece, said his mother was “killed by multiple blows to the head”, while “no defensive wounds” were found on Mr Searle.
Mr Kerr said: “While the official investigation is still ongoing, we cannot ignore the circumstances as they stand.
“For this reason, we must respectfully but firmly request that our mother not be included in any way in the funeral arrangements being made for Andrew.
“Please do not share photographs of them together. Please do not attend Andrew’s service if you were a friend of our mother.
“It would be inappropriate for her memory to be associated with a service honouring the man who, based on all available evidence, may have been responsible for her death.
“We ask for understanding, privacy and respect as we continue to grieve and seek justice for our mum.”
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Mr and Mrs Searle, who previously lived in Musselburgh in East Lothian, had been living in the Aveyron region for five years.
They lived in Les Pesquies and were married in 2023 in the nearby town of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, with Mr Kerr walking his mum down the aisle.
Neighbours described them as a happy couple, who had fully integrated into rural French life and held an annual party for villagers.
Jean-Sebastien Orcibal, the mayor of Villefranche-de-Rouergue who conducted the couple’s wedding, told Sky News they were “very happy, very friendly and didn’t seem to have any problems”.
Police at the scene in February
Mrs Searle, 56, grew up in Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders, while Mr Searle, 62, was originally from England.
According to his LinkedIn page, Mr Searle retired in 2015 after previously working in financial crime prevention at companies including Standard Life and Barclays.
Following the deaths, investigators were said to be following several lines of inquiry – including whether the couple were killed during a burglary or potential links to Mr Searle’s previous work in the UK.
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