Abby Zwerner in stable condition and improving after suffering life-threatening injuries after intentionally shot by 6-year-old student

As investigators try to figure out how a child so young could be engaged in a school shooting, Newport News’ mayor announced on Saturday that Abby Zwerner, the teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student and suffered critical injuries, is improving.

The mayor of Newport News, Phillip Jones, said Abby’s health is improving. She is still in the hospital.

Saturday morning, Police Chief Steve Drew visited with the teacher’s family. “Her condition has improved and she is currently listed as stable,” he added in a press release.

On Friday, a student at Richneck Elementary School used a handgun to shoot and wound a teacher who was teaching her first-grade class. According to Chief Drew, the shooting was not an accident and was part of a fight between two individuals. No students were wounded.

Zwerner, who was from Williamsburg, is alleged to have been involved in a “altercation” with the suspect, who has not been publicly identified by the police, before she was shot.

Zwerner’s name was confirmed to FOX3 by her parent, Sebastian Gonzalez-Hernandez, who also described her selflessness in the moments immediately following the tragedy.

He said that after the student shot one bullet, “she screamed at her kids to run away.”

According to Gonzalez-Hernandez, the victim was concerned about the well-being of her children even after she had been shot.

When the shot was fired in the classroom, his own six-year-old child, the identity of whom he chose not to disclose, was there.

He told FOX3 that his son didn’t see what happened, but when he heard the gunshot, he turned around and saw Miss Zwerner on the floor.

“She is a great teacher who works hard. My son loves her very much, and we’re all very sad about what happened. We’re all thinking about her and hoping she gets better soon.

The police refused to provide any specifics regarding what occurred in the classroom, including what led up to the fight or anything else that took place there.

In addition, Mayor Jones did not give any information about the incident, including who owned the pistol, how the youngster had access to it, or how he got his hands on it.

The nation is in grave danger as a result of this, as Mayor Jones stated. “I do think that in the wake of this occurrence, there is going to be a nationwide conversation about how things of this nature may be prevented,” the speaker said.

Under Virginia law, a 6-year-old can’t be tried as an adult. A 6-year-old is also too young to be sent to the Department of Juvenile Justice if he or she is found guilty.

A juvenile judge could, on the other hand, take a child away from a parent and give it to the Department of Social Services to care for.

Mayor Jones wouldn’t say where the boy is being kept.

He said, “We are making sure he has all the services he needs right now.”

According to experts who examine the topic of gun violence, the incident in question reflects a very unusual event in which a small child brings a gun into school and shoots and wounds a teacher.

According to David Riedman, a researcher and the founder of a database that chronicles school shootings in the United States going all the way back to 1970, “it’s exceedingly rare and it’s not something the judicial system is really intended or positioned to deal with.”

He stated on Saturday that within the time span he has examined, he is only aware of three prior shootings that were committed by students aged six years old. These include a shooting that took the life of a fellow student in the year 2000 in the state of Michigan, as well as gunshots that injured other students in the years 2011 and 2021 in the states of Texas and Mississippi respectively.