Dark Day

A six-year-old boy has been detained by police after shooting A Teacher in the US state of Virginia, officers say.

The Shooting happened shortly after 14:00 local time (19:00 GMT) at Richneck Elementary School in The City of Newport News , Chief Steve Drew Said .

It is unclear how The Child obtained The Gun , but Mr Drew Said The Incident was not " an accidental shooting".

The Teacher - who has not been named and is Said to be in her 30s - was left with life-threatening injuries.

She was taken to a local hospital and is being closely monitored by doctors. The Incident took place in a First Grade (ages six to seven) classroom after an altercation between the pair.

But Mr Drew emphasised that The Shooting had been an Isolated Incident and stressed that officers " did not have a situation where someone was going around the School Shooting ".

Officials Said that while The School - which has around 550 students - had metal detection facilities, students were checked at random and not Every Child was inspected.

Police declined to name The Weapon used in The Incident , but Said The Boy had used a handgun.

School District Head Dr George Parker Said officials would " be looking at any instance that may have occurred that may have caused this incident".

" This is terrible, something like this should never occur, " Dr Parker added. " We want to ensure nothing like this happens again. "

He Said The School would be closed on Monday, and pledged that students and parents would be offered support to help them deal with the traumatic event.

Mayor Phillip Jones - who took office just Three Days Ago - Said The Shooting marked " a Dark Day for Newport News ".

" We're going to learn from this and we're going to come back stronger, " he told reporters.

Newton News is a city of around 180,000 people and sits about 70 miles (112km) to The South of The State capital Richmond.

Source of news: bbc.com