6-Year-Old Shoots Teacher at Virginia Elementary School, Police Say

A 6-year-old student at an elementary school in Newport News, Va., shot a teacher on Friday afternoon during an altercation in a classroom, the authorities said, leaving her with “life-threatening” injuries and renewing calls for greater gun restrictions.

As of Friday evening, the student was in police custody, while the authorities figured out the best next steps, Steve Drew, the chief of the Newport News Police Department, said at a news conference.

The superintendent of Newport News Public Schools, Dr. George Parker, said at the news conference that “we need to keep guns out of the hands of our young people.”

“I cannot control access to weapons,” Dr. Parker said. “My teachers cannot control access to weapons.”

The shooting in Newport News, a city of more than 180,000 people, about 70 miles southeast of Richmond. Va., stunned officials on Friday as they began to investigate what had gone wrong inside the school.

“I’m in shock, and I’m in awe, and I’m disheartened,” Dr. Parker said.