- A Virginia school official was told a 6-year-old student may have brought a gun to school.
- The first grader's backpack was searched, but no gun was found, the Newport News superintendent said.
Hours before a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher in class, a school administrator at the Virginia elementary school was told that the student may have brought a gun to school, according to the district's superintendent.
Superintendent George Parker told parents at a meeting on Thursday that an official at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, heard the student might be carrying a weapon on January 6, according to local outlet WAVY.
Workers at the school searched the boy's backpack, but didn't find anything, Parker said, according to WAVY.
The first-grade student later pulled a gun and shot his teacher, Abigail Zwerner.
Zwerner ushered all her students to safety before being rushed to the hospital, according to NBC News.
The Washington Post reported that Zwerner was in a life-threatening condition, but later stabilized.
Parker told parents at the meeting that he's spoken to school officials at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas — where 19 students and 2 teachers were killed in a mass shooting last May — for advice.
Erin Davis, an attorney at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told Insider it's unclear whether the school can be held liable.
The school potentially could be sued, but this initial stage of the investigative process is murky, according to Davis, because police are still gathering facts and trying to put together a chronology of events.
"It certainly raises red flags," Davis said.
But "we don't know all the facts and it will depend what comes out and what it shows," she added.
A school, however, has an obligation to act on any threat.
"If a school has knowledge of a threat, it 100% needs to act on it to ensure that no violence can occur at the school," she said.
Newport News Public Schools have had three shooting incidents in the last year and a half, the Washington Post reported. Dr. Parker assured parents that the district is changing its security procedures, and might require students to wear clear plastic backpacks.
At another news conference on Thursday, the school board chair Lisa Surles-Law said the district will be installing metal detectors in all schools, according to WAVY.
Because of how young the child is, it's unclear what, if any, consequences he will face, according to Ed Booth, a Virginia-based attorney.
He previously told Insider that, while Virginia has no minimum age limit for prosecuting children, it would be difficult to prosecute such a young child, even for a serious crime. It's unlikely that a 6-year-old would be deemed competent enough to stand trial, he said, and it would be difficult to argue he had criminal intent because such young children do not have "full cause and effect understanding."
"When you're talking about a 6-year-old, understanding what's going on is obviously going to be sort of difficult," Booth said. "I mean, frequently six-year-olds are not even permitted to testify in cases, let alone be actual party defendants in a case."