(CNN) — Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, is closed through Friday to give students “time to heal” after a 6-year-old boy allegedly shot and injured a teacher Friday, the school announced.
The shooting came just six days into the new year, with police swarming a campus that still had a “Happy New Year” sign outside and taking the young child into custody.
Police Chief Steve Drew said the boy shot the teacher in a classroom and it was “not an accidental shooting.”
Before the shot rang out, there had been an altercation between the teacher and the student, who had the firearm, Drew said. A single round was fired and no other students were involved, he added.
“We have been in contact with our commonwealth attorney and some other entities to help us best get services to this young man,” Drew said Friday.
The teacher, whose injury was initially described as life-threatening, was listed in stable condition by Saturday, according to the Newport News Police Department.
The teacher was first identified by her alma mater, James Madison University, as Abby Zwerner.
The school had an emergency plan in place that allowed for immediate medical care for the injured teacher, Newport News Public Schools Superintendent George Parker said.
“While no amount of planning can guarantee that a tragedy such as this will not occur; please know that our collective efforts and preparation resulted in immediate medical care for our faculty member, no injuries to students, and a safe and efficient reunification process for our families and students,” Parker said.
As the investigation continues and police probe how the young boy gained access to a firearm and what led up to the shooting, community members are grappling with what happened.
“It’s a very difficult thing to process,” Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones told CNN Sunday. “The fact that we have a 6-year-old individual with the ability to bring a gun into school and harm his teacher — something that we’re still grappling with.”
The mayor would not comment on the child’s family or their involvement with the investigation.
“There’s a lot of questions that we have to answer as a community,” the mayor added. “Up with, how a 6-year-old was able to have a gun, know how to use it in such a deliberate manner … The individuals responsible will be held accountable. I can promise that.”
‘We were doing math’: Student details lockdown horror
After the shooting at Richneck Elementary, a student at the school described the harrowing moment the lockdown was called.
“We were doing math … an announcer came on she was like, ‘lockdown, I repeat lockdown,'” said fifth grader Novah Jones, who was located in a different classroom. “I was scared … it was like my first lockdown and I didn’t know what to do, so I just hid under my desk like everybody was.”
Novah told CNN in an interview with her and her mother that she first believed there was a man with a gun at the school.
“I was thinking that … a man was going to shoot us,” Novah said.
Following the shooting, all students at the school were evacuated from their classrooms with their teachers and taken to the gymnasium, where they were with counselors and officers, the police chief told CNN affiliate WTKR.
Though she was able to return home safely, Novah said she had trouble sleeping that night, worried that “he still had the gun and he was going to come to my house.”
“I had like flashbacks,” Novah said.
Novah is one of numerous children to grapple with the trauma of a shooting at school. Shootings in US schools have become far more common than they are in any other country. In 2022, there were at least 60 shootings at K-12 schools, according to a CNN analysis.
Richneck Elementary said in an update on its website that licensed therapists are available to help parents with tips for talking with children, counseling services and resource referrals.
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