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.
World
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
Read more:
Azerbaijan president hails oil and gas as ‘gift from God’
UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’
The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
Read more:
No 10 indicates Netanyahu would be arrested
‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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