US authorities on Monday praised the heroism of a schoolteacher who was shot and wounded by a six-year-old boy, saying she saved lives by evacuating all her pupils before seeing to her own care.
“I believe that Miss Zwerner, Abigail, she saved lives on Friday,” Steve Drew, police chief of Newport News, Virginia, said after a pupil shot her in her first grade classroom at Richneck Elementary School.
The pupil and the teacher were having a discussion when he pulled out the pistol, authorities said. Ms Zwerner stuck her hand out in a defensive gesture and the child fired a bullet that punctured her hand before entering her chest.
“She made sure that every one of those kids were out of that room and she was the last one to leave. So I believe she did save lives,” Chief Drew stressed.
Still in hospital on Monday, she was in stable condition, he added.
School shootings plague the US, with recent tragedies including the killing last May of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, by an 18-year-old gunman.
There were an estimated 44,000 gun-related deaths in the US last year, about half of them murder cases, accidents and self-defence, and half of them suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive database.
The solemnity of the Sandy Hook Memorial
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The Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial in Newtown, Connecticut. AFP -
December 14, 2022, marks the 10th anniversary of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, where 26 people, including 20 children, were killed. AFP -
A plaque welcomes visitors to the Sandy Hook Memorial. Inside the stone block are the incinerated remains of teddy bears, photos, flowers and letters that make up the 'sacred soil' of the memorial. Reuters -
The granite basin surrounding the main water feature is marked with the 26 names of the victims. The National -
The Sandy Hook Memorial opened to the public one month before the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. AFP -
The names of the 20 children and six educators killed a short distance away at Sandy Hook Elementary School are engraved in concrete around the memorial pool with a sycamore tree in the middle. AP -
A young sycamore tree in the water feature's central planter symbolises the young age of the victims. Most were between six and seven years old. The National -
Water spirals anticlockwise towards the memorial's central planter. AFP -
A pair of rocks are placed next to the name of Noah Pozner, one of the victims of the 2012 shooting. The National -
Flowers are placed around the name of Grace McDonnell, one of the victims of the shooting. Reuters -
Flowers at the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial. Reuters -
Flowers lie on the cobblestones at the foot of the memorial. The National -
Flowers are placed under the name of one of the victims. AP -
Visitors look at the names of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. The National -
A visitor to the Sandy Hook Memorial sits on a bench at twilight. AP -
The Sandy Hook Memorial is near the new school's campus. The National -
Visitors walk along a winding path before reaching the main water fountain of the memorial. The National -
Flowers are placed between the names of Emilie Parker and Anne Marie Murphy. Reuters
