Last month, an elementary school teacher in Newport News, Virginia, was shot and seriously injured by one of her students—a 6-year-old boy. Now, the mother of another 6-year-old in Virginia has been charged after her child brought a handgun to school. Per a release from the City of Norfolk, police responded around 3:30pm to a report of a student with a weapon at Little Creek Elementary. The handgun had already been confiscated by school workers by the time cops arrived. Skye Barnes tells WRIC that she found out from another parent that the child who brought the gun had threatened to shoot her daughter, a classmate.
"To be able to get the gun and bring it to school—it could have been a lot worse," Barnes notes. She adds that she initially found out about the incident around 5:30pm that day via an automated message from school principal Cheryl Coghlan. "This afternoon a student was found in possession of a weapon in the school," Coghlan's message read. "The teacher acted immediately to alert me, at which I enacted emergency protocols including calling Norfolk police." Coghlan then added: "Parents and guardians, please talk to your children about the items that they bring to school."
No injuries were reported. Norfolk Public Schools spokesperson Michelle Washington tells CNN that police arrived on the scene after kids had been dismissed for the day, and that the school board is mulling a budget plan that would allow for the hiring of more security officers and the purchase of a weapons detection system. Meanwhile, the child's mother, 35-year-old Letty Lopez, has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and allowing access to loaded firearm by children. She was released on a criminal summons. CNN notes this is the fourth incident of a 6-year-old bringing a gun to school this year. (More guns stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
