School official searched 6-year-old before teacher’s shooting and missed gun

On January 6, first grade teacher Abby Zwerner was shot and seriously injured by a 6-year-old who brought a gun into class.

After the incident at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, administrators got along with the parents: Yes, there were indications that the young suspect might have been carrying a gun, but administrators said they only checked his backpack WAVY TV.

As it turned out, the gun was with him – and hours later he shot Zwerner dead.

The solution, the administrators told the Richneck parents last Thursday in a virtual town hall: Clear backpacks for all students and metal detectors at the schools.

In other words, they still don’t get it.

First, the details of what happened that fateful morning, according to WAVY: “Superintendent Dr. George Parker revealed there was a report the boy may have been carrying a gun when he got to school on Friday morning.

“His backpack was searched but nothing was found. Two and a half hours later, after this boy shot and killed his elementary school teacher, the police stormed the school.”

“At least one administrator has been briefed on a possible weapon,” Parker told parents.

“The student’s book bag was searched after it was reported he may have had a gun. An administrator has been notified.”

But don’t worry, Parker said — they’re taking proactive steps. First, they contacted officials at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students were killed in an attack last year.

“After three school shootings in three years, Newport News Public Schools is changing the way the district handles safety. dr Parker told parents he was considering requiring clear plastic backpacks for richneck students, which would be purchased by the district,” WAVY reported.

“Richneck Elementary is also in the process of adding a divider and doors to the 2nd class hallway and installing permanent metal detectors. dr Parker also shared plans to reconstruct the school’s front entrance and create a working buzzer system and dual entrance so staff can see who is trying to enter the building.”

It’s hard to invent any of this. Administrators apparently knew the child might have had a gun. His backpack was searched. The gun was not found because it was not in the backpack. So, one way officials could try to prevent this? Clear backpacks.

Oh, but there will be more security measures – buzzers, metal detectors, double entrances. However, when a proactive plan was put forward to deal with the moral decline where 6-year-olds know how to get hold of a gun, get it past administrators and use it to shoot a teacher, it was not reported by WAVY or other media.

And therein lies the problem. School safety is a good thing – I would also note that trained, armed guards and/or teachers are also an effective deterrent – but when barely reading age children become school gunners there is a problem with all the gun laws and targets – Hardships in the world will not solve.

Instead, community leaders must advocate for responsible gun ownership—particularly gun safety. We have the constitutional right to bear arms, but we also have a duty to ensure that others – especially children – do not have unauthorized access to them. Period.

While we’re on the subject of responsibility, it’s time to ask parents to have their say. This was undoubtedly a troubled young man, but on some level, that kind of wickedness in someone so young requires a profound family-level moral vacuum. Given that the district seems to have an issue with outside shootings, I imagine this young man isn’t the only one lacking guidance and care at home.

Evil finds its way around translucent backpacks and dual entrances. It cannot be neutralized by buzzers and metal detectors. However, evil can be prevented by preventing it from entering the human heart in the first place. The answers are easy to list: responsibility, good parenting, faith, community, morals, standards, accountability.

Although easy to list, they are difficult to implement in practice. We are a society that has spent the last half century making fun of these values. And yet we are shocked when we harvest the poisonous fruit from the tree we planted long ago. Unfortunately, no metal detector will save us from the Mephite harvest we are reaping—both in Newport News and in the myriad other communities suffering their own unique tragedies.