Elementary school student shoots at his teacher in the USA

A six-year-old schoolchild shot a teacher in the United States, critically injuring her. No students were injured in the incident at the elementary school in the city of Newport News, Virginia, police said. Richneck Elementary School officials and police said there was an altercation in the first grade classroom where the child fired the handgun he had brought with him. The child was taken into custody.

Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said the badly hit teacher, in her 30s, was showing some improvement as of late Friday afternoon. It wasn't a situation where someone walked through the school and shot, he said. "We have a situation at a certain place where a shot was fired." It was not an accident.

The boy had a handgun in the classroom and investigators are trying to figure out where he got it from, Drew continued. The police chief did not provide any further details about the shooting, the altercation or what happened at the school.

Joselin Glover, whose son is in fourth grade, told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper that she received a text message from the school with information about the incident. "My heart stopped," she said. I was freaking out, very nervous. I was just wondering if that one person is my son.” Her nine-year-old son was just on break. Shortly thereafter, he and his classmates holed up in the back of a classroom.

Parents and students were reunited at the door of a gym, as the municipal school board announced on Facebook. The city of about 185,000 is known for its shipyard, which builds aircraft carriers and other ships for the US Navy. According to official figures, about 550 children - from preschool through fifth grade - attend Richneck Elementary School. School officials said classes would be canceled on Monday.