(Reuters) – A Virginia prosecutor said on Wednesday he would not seek charges against a 6-year-old boy who police said shot his first-grade teacher at school earlier this year.
Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn told NBC News in an interview that he would not file charges in the case, saying the “prospect that a 6-year-old can stand trial is problematic.”
Gwynn said a child that young would not have competency to stand trial.
“Our objective is not just to do something as quickly as possible,” Gwynn told NBC. “Once we analyze all the facts, we will charge any person or persons that we believe we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt committed a crime.”
Gwynn’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Legal experts have said that the boy’s mother could be charged for the shooting on Jan. 6 that seriously injured the teacher, Abigail Zwerner, 25.
The mother legally purchased the 9 mm Taurus handgun, police have said, but could face misdemeanor charges if it’s found she did not properly secure the weapon in her home.
The superintendent of the school district where the shooting took place was fired in January. That followed accusations that school officials had been given several warnings that the child who allegedly carried out the shooting had a gun on school grounds.
School officials have confirmed they received warnings that the boy had a gun at school, but that a search of his belongings before the shooting took place did not turn up any weapon.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Editing by Leslie Adler)
