NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The 9 mm handgun a 6-year-old student used to shoot a teacher at Richneck Elementary School was secured with a trigger lock and kept out of the boy’s reach at the family’s Newport News home, according to an attorney representing the child’s mother.
On Thursday, the boy’s family issued its first public comments since the Jan. 6 shooting, expressing sympathy for 25-year-old teacher who was wounded and disclosing that the boy suffers from “an acute disability” and was under a specialized care plan at school.
The family’s statement said the gun was secured.
