The authorities offered on Monday the first account of how the child obtained the gun, saying that the weapon, a 9-millimeter Taurus handgun, came from his home and that it had been legally purchased by his mother. “The child had obtained that firearm, placed it in his backpack and brought it to school,” Chief Drew said, citing interviews with the child and his mother. Chief Drew said that any potential charges would be based on “what the facts are and what the law supports.” The child is receiving treatment at a medical facility, the authorities said. His family has not been identified.
The focus in elementary schools had been on preventing adult active shooters from entering classrooms, Mr. Parker said. But now, he said, some steps taken at high schools, like metal detectors, may need to be explored. “I hate to be at this point where I’m considering this, but we have to start relying on those types of deterrence at the elementary level as well,” said Mr. Parker, who seemed distressed to even be thinking about such measures.
Chief Drew said another school employee came into the classroom at the sound of the gunshot and “restrained that young man — that child, I should say.” The boy struck the employee but did not fire another shot, the police said. The gun, which still held bullets, was on the floor when the police arrived.
In the front office, school officials were busy ordering a schoolwide lockdown, having just been told that a shooting had taken place in one of the first-grade classrooms, said Lowanda Sample-Rusk, 55, who was there to pick up her 5- and 7-year-old grandchildren. Before the office itself was locked, Ms. Zwerner showed up at the door. “She said: ‘Call 911. I’ve been shot,’” Ms. Sample-Rusk recalled. “And then she fainted.” Ms. Sample-Rusk and others in the office immediately ran to Ms. Zwerner and began administering first aid, seeing blood on Ms. Zwerner’s hand but trying to “find out where the gunshot wound was.” They found that Ms. Zwerner had been shot in the chest, and Ms. Sample-Rusk applied pressure to the wound until the police came.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/us/n ... oting.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan