6-year-old's family issues statement after first grader shoots teacher

The family of a 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot his teacher has issued a their first public statement.

The boy's family expressed sympathy for the 25-year-old teacher who was wounded earlier this month, and explained that the child has an unspecified but "acute disability" and was placed under a specialized care plan at Richneck Elementary School, reported the Daily Press.

“Our family has always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of children,” the statement said.

The family said the 9 mm handgun used in the shooting had been secured with a trigger lock and kept out of the boy's reach on a top shelf in a closet at their Newport News home, but the mother's attorney said he didn't understand how the child overcame the mechanism that fits over the gun's trigger to prevent it from being fired.

“I don’t think any of us know,” said attorney James Ellenson. “We don’t know … She has no idea how the child got the gun.”

The boy's parents attended school with him under the terms of the specialized care plan, but they were not at the school on Jan. 6, the day of the shooting.

“The week of the shooting was the first week when we were not in class with him,” the family’s statement said. “We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives.”

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No charges have been filed against the first grader, and aren't expected due to his age, or his parents, but the case remains under investigation and will eventually be sent to prosecutors.

Police said the boy's mother purchased the gun legally, and investigators said the child somehow accessed the weapon at home and brought it to school in a book bag.

A school employee was notified before the shooting that the boy may have brought a gun to school and his bag was searched, but he had already removed the weapon and was carrying it on his person, but police were not told until after the shooting.

The boy has been under hospital care since the shooting, and a city spokesperson said he was placed under the custody of the Newport News Department of Human Services, which will then determine where to place the first grader.