Six-Year-Old First-Grader Intentionally Shoots Teacher | Richneck Elementary School Shooting 

This is why I left my kindergarten class mid year. I had 3 specific children making threats, hurting, and throwing furniture. I was told to document. That was it. Absolutely no support. It was horrible, stressful and unfair to me and my students.

I NEVER thought I could feel aversion against a 6 year old, and yet here we are.

After a 23 year military career, I retired to teach High School mathematics in the inner city. During the 7 years in the inner city I had one gun incident in the classroom, one knife fight, I was assaulted twice, and observed unbelievable miss deeds.There was zero administrative support, students ran the institution with no respect of the other students or teachers. I finally transferred to the suburbs and fished a rewarding 20 year career teaching math.

If his parents only missed that one day of going to school with him, how is it he so frequently was disruptive and also wandered around the school? His parent just sat in the classroom?

I feel for all teachers who try their best and do everything they can to teach without helpers in the classroom. Inclusion has caused a lot of these issues. A close family member of mine is a teacher and she had a student with an IQ of 60 in her classroom with a full classroom of kids trying to teach. This was probably about 20 years ago. She's retired now and the child got out of the classroom and got lost and then she had to take her other children out with her to try to find this child. I also have experienced this as a mother and I have children who would come home and tell me stories about the kids in the classroom that they included and I would think it what a distraction that was to the rest of the kids. I'm sure if I was a parent I would want my kid to be included but at some point is it fair to the child? Maybe they deserve to get the help they need that they won't get when they're in a classroom with 25 to 30 other students. I think it's a no win situation.

Incredible.....society will have to deal with this kid as he grows up, until he commits another heinous crime or maybe kills someone. The parents need to be held accountable and for more than a misdemeanor! They knew the kid is troubled and yet kept what almost certainly was a loaded gun in the house where he could access it. I had a second grade teacher that was brutal with a ruler. Really knew how to whack your knuckles! When I went home my parents asked what I had done to deserve it, not blaming the school or teacher at all. Those were better days!

As an Education Assistant I have worked with very disturbed children for many years. If the Administrators are competent and hands on these children, who always have an Individual Education Plan (IEP), a living legal document. It seems like the administration that was incompetent and MIA. It's too bad that these staff members don't have a union to protect them from lazy administrators. This situation isn't good for any students, staff or the acting out student. These parents should be be investigated by social workers to see what kind of home environment they have that an angry 6 year old child would have access to a loaded weapon plus negligent parents who apparently do not check their child's backpack. Too bad impacted staff don't sue these parents so that lousy parents start actually parenting and disciplining their children.

Obviously I can't know what this districts policies are, but my experience having my own child with severe mental and behavioral needs is that the system forces a Gen Ed. environment for as long as humanly possible regardless of the effect on staff, other students or the child themselves. There is a misconception that every, or at least most, parents will complain about exclusion. This is not always the case. Every single IEP meeting, and many emails and phonecalls in-between did I advocate for my son to be removed from Gen Ed for the safety of EVERYONE. He is doing the best that he has ever done, in his level IV school setting - and it should have happened a year before it did.

I am a father of an 8 and 5yr old boys. I cannot fathom the hatred this 6 yr old boy had to the point to murder an adult. The biggest losers in this case are his parents and where is his dad? Looks like this boy's action is highly linked to critical psychological and behavioural problems that were not handled adequately. Like Dr. Grande mentioned what future will this boy have, only a very sad and tragic one we can expect. Unless someone is done to correct and transform him to be a responsible adult who will contribute positively to society. And the school.... I've read enough negligence on their part here. The school needs a huge transformation from the inside out.

No child who is so out of control that he needs a parent with him in school (per the IEP) should be in a class with other children who need a reasonably calm and controlled atmosphere to learn. That's insane.

I'm sorry to say, but that child's parents need to be held seriously accountable!!!🙏😢❣️

As a retired teacher of 33 years this story just reminds me of why I left when I did. Having a lack of administrative support, oversized classes, and parents that often blame the teacher for their child's behavior are very common problems nationwide. She was, at 25, an obviously new teacher with only 2-3 years experience under her belt. The student was apparently very aggressive and disturbed and should have been receiving a LOT of supervision and supportive care. For someone to say they kept a 9mm handgun under lock and key, with a trigger lock, unloaded, and yet this child still managed to obtain it, load it, and carry it to school is ludicrous. They are covering their own lack of compliance with the law. This whole story is disturbing on so many levels. I hope the teacher recovers quickly and then hires a good Attorney.

I am an education (kinder teacher) and what makes me the angriest when it comes to cases like this is that the school doesn’t think of the other students in the classroom. This child was allowed to stay in the classroom despite his destructive behavior and threats. How the heck are the other students are able to learn in that kind of environment? And all the school says is to document the behavior, like that is suppose to do something.

The kid was smart enough to bring the gun on the one day his parents weren't there. Absolutely premeditated.

My friend was a middle school teacher and the students were not allowed to have cell phones in class. When she tried to get the cell phone away from the boy she was attacked so violently she wound up in the hospital. A boy in the class went to her aid and probably saved her life. My friend recovered but never went back to teaching. Something must be done about this. When I was in school (in the 1960s) this was unheard of. I'm amazed that anyone would be a teacher in these days,

Dr. Grande this was very informative. I'm curious why a child exhibiting this type of behavior would not be in a more controlled environment. This begs the question about the school administration at the highest level.

Can I just point out that Abigail, shot through the hand and chest, still cleared the classroom for her students' safety? Glory to her.

No one who lives with a mentally unstable person who has expressed a desire to harm themselves or others should have a gun in the home, "secured" or not. And fortunately we have absolute proof that the gun was not adequately secured: a six year old accessed it and used it, so it was not. There is no other option. I say all of this as a gun owner. I am infuriated that the parents are trying to make themselves look anything but recklessly negligent. It is their fault, entirely, that their child had access to that weapon.

So the student has a learning plan where the parents are in school with him every day. Yet the student is frequently found wandering around the school unsupervised during class time? And the 9mm had the safety on, but somehow the 6 year old was able to disable this, rack the slide, and shoot the teacher? What is going on in that child’s home?

"He wanted to light her on fire and watch her die," but somehow kids under seven are not capable of comprehending the act of killing someone.

As a law enforcement officer if we are contacted about there possibly be an armed student at a school we usually detain the student and contact the parents to have them check the last location they kept their weapon. If law enforcement had been contacted we most likely would have retrieved the weapon before the incident because even if he had another student hold the firearm for him because he thought he might get searched we would have verified with the parents that the firearm is missing so we would know that he hit it somewhere or has a friend holding it for him.

I am an elementary teacher and I have had students like this. I had a student my first year who wanted to lock us in the closet and hear us starve to death. This is not uncommon. My current school, we have several kids EXACTLY like this student. It is beyond frustrating.EDIT TO ADD it’s so sad when one students takes so much time and attention away from the 24 other kids in a class. They deserve attention too. Sometimes when there are very difficult students, the ones who are quiet/well behaved are hurt the most by the chaos that can happen when your teacher has to call the cops to your room and you have to run out because of one very unstable student. The needs of the one over needs of the many.

Sadly enough, as a current public school teacher of 19 years, I can clearly "see" everything that you described. Students are sometimes treated better than the teachers. We're needed, but they're valued more. As far as the initial report not being reported to the police before the shooting, having a gun on campus is a relation nightmare, so no gun found=no problem, which also equates to nothing to report. I admire her ability to get the other students safely out of the room. I'm sure it was shock. If I were in her position, I would file charges against the child, the parents, the school, the district, etc etc etc. It's not about money. We don't go into teaching for the money, it's about the principle of the situation. If his parents usually have to be present, he should not have been allowed back in that room.

I work as a camp counselor and last year we had a 7 year old with an autism diagnosis. He was very aggressive with the other children. He kicked and hit them, and so we asked the mom to take him out of our camp. She was furious, said we advertised as “inclusive to special needs” which we are. But we do not make accommodations for kids who feel the need to physically assault other kids. Turned out the mom was a special Ed teacher too. We have animals at our camp, and this kid before the incident also shoved a rooster off a table and laughed about it. I verbally disciplined him and took the animal away. Told him we couldn’t have animals at camp if he was gonna hurt them. This made him upset but his story to him mom was he “dropped” the rooster. And she believed him. I was furious because the camp is actually run by my family so the animals including the rooster are mine. So mom expected us to accommodate for hitting, kicking and animal cruelty for this little shit. I have worked with kids on the autism spectrum, they are often the most lovable children, super smart and they tend to do very well at our camp. This kid was not just showing signs of autism, I think there were some type b personality traits in there. You don’t often see kids hurt animals

Listen as a former educator this story literally triggers me. And it’s exactly why I left the field at the end of 2021. I graduated in 2019 and only taught for 2 years. The school never listens when you bring up these alarming behaviors. They always wait until something happens then all the sudden they want to be sorry. That student should’ve been removed from classroom and that student Is not capable of being in a class with other students. He poses a danger to himself his teacher and the other students.

This is exactly why a lot of teachers are leaving the field to do something else. My daughter teaches in public school, and she says she has almost no tools for providing discipline in her class. She also tells me that if she expresses concerns about a student, she is told it’s her fault and she should work harder. She has taught for five years, and she’s strongly considering not signing a contract for next year. I support her decision and will be cheering when she leaves. I never thought I would feel that way about her doing teaching. I was so happy and proud of her when she chose education has her degree in college. I knew she was doing something good and honorable. Now I just want her out of the line of potential fire and away from the constant bedlam that public school classes have become.

One of the main reason I got a general education degree rather than completing my degree is that teachers are the scapegoat for the world's problems it would seem.

Parents are responsible here. They're lying about how the kid managed to access the firearm.

They blaming this on being absent from class?! Are they insane? Why on earth was he able to get the gun? Charge the parents immediately... Negligence! He coumd have killed multiple people and himself.

What's done to children, they do to the world. -- Albert Schweitzer, MD.

Parents need to be charged. This is just insane.

SIX YEARS OLD. Intentional, premeditated. So hard to absorb just how sad this is. He's been exposed to some bad things, this isn't just about access to a fire arm. It will no doubt come back to the parents and the environment he was living in.

I left teaching in 2016 and every single day I hear something that just reinforces that I made the right choice.

I think the teacher was incredibly brave to put the students’ safety first after she had been shot. The little boy needs a full psych evaluation and his parents have to face the fact he needs help.

You are 100% spot on about parents getting enraged about consequences at school and the kids running the school is exactly what ehat happens. Parent your dang kids! The rest of the world has to deal with them for their entire lives.

Charges against parents need to be filed.Fines. Jail terms. It needs to HURT!!!Maybe this will smarten up these foolish parents.

This story is equally heartbreaking and so disturbing. Those poor children that witnessed this and what the teacher went through..I hope they get the support they need

This sounds exactly like a boy in my child's first grade class last year. My child was "evacuated" several times a week for months when this boy would rage in the classroom--throwing desks and chairs, etc. The teachers weren't allowed to restrain him, due to laws. They weren't allowed to inform us due to privacy--my child would say "He was angry again today" but I had NO. IDEA. how bad it was....I heard from another parent whose child was more talkative months later. He is intelligent enough that they MUST keep him at the regular school, with aides, but he doesn't seem to function well, nor is it working for the children in his class. The school is stuck, due to laws regarding public education access, etc. The parents can't afford or are unwilling to send him somewhere more suited to his needs.... What is anyone to do? My husband said if they still live in the school district in middle school, we're moving, because he's exactly the kind of kid who becomes a school shooter. And now I worry it could be earlier than middle school! It's awful, sad, and frustrating for everyone. I assume he has some sort of Oppositional Defiant disorder. And we live in one of the most affluent and best-rated school districts in the US (just to say if we don't have the resources to help children like this, who does??)

I know someone who teaches public school in the same geographic area as this case. She has seen horrifying behavior by parents- physically fighting on school grounds with each other- and has so many students that have parents designated with "no contact allowed" or are living with relatives other than their parents, or are in the care of just one parent, etc. And then the issue of communicating with parents about behavior problems or academic failings- the fact that the KIDS have openly spoken about trying to get teachers fired that they don't like- all adds up to chaos. Administrators are not supportive of teachers, being more worried about test scores and keeping parents off their backs. The constant testing. The problems related to constant cell phone use and abuse. The addiction to social media. Having 7th and 8th graders arriving to class drunk or high. Our public schools are a reflection of the society providing the students! This particular student sounds like a candidate for an exorcism, however! And while I am not diagnosing anyone at this point(!) his actions certainly seem psycho or sociopathic! I cannot imagine this child ever NOT being a danger to himself or others. Bottom line, however, is that every person in that school is being held hostage to the needs of the student in question. Administration did nothing to alleviate the chaos in the classroom, or the rest of the school. If the student had a "plan" that included the necessary attendance of a parent everyday, why was he allowed to attend without a parent?? Why was the teacher told to "drop it" when desperately seeking help from Administrators?! What a mess!! We are turning out graduates who cannot read, or think, or handle basic math- just to keep up appearances? But they can all access their apps, and use inappropriate ones with ease! Sigh.....thank you for filling in many pertinent details in this case. Sheds more light on this particular situation, even if that light shows the deeper problems present! Can you examine the case of our current rage filled, mass shooting happy, hate propelled and ignorant society? I am seeking insight! And solutions!

We had a kid in my 1st grade in 1967 who would scream and throw desks and even beat up the scariest bully. This kid was a girl. She eventually disappeared and nobody missed her. This needs to happen now. It's not fair to the other students to have these disruptful and dangerous kids in the class. Traumatize twenty kids to indulge one. Great policy.

I found the fact that one of the parents has to go to school with the child every day to be a huge red flag. I've never heard of that before. If he was that uncontrollable why wasn't he put in a special needs class that has fewer students for the teacher to tend to? And if he was that out of control, why on god's earth did the mom get a gun? Maybe there's more to the home life than is being aired. Maybe mom needed protection too. Ugh, unbelievable to think a 6 year old could carry so much rage to state he wanted to set his teacher on fire. That's just not something a 6 year old would say. Maybe I wanna hurt my teacher or I wanna kill my teacher, but to get specific on the way he wanted to do it, is psycho. Dr G is psychopathy born into our DNA or is it a learned behavior?

You hit the nail on the head when you said that teachers are in a difficult situation ......... I am a teacher and the Administration is not interested in supporting teachers, but in increasing their numbers and pleasing parents. Parents believe that teachers are their enemies and that their children are angels. The Administration blames the teachers, the parents blame the teachers. On top of that, every day we are given more responsibilities with less resources and no help. Once a parent sent me an email listing the ways I should manage my class, while the principal was too preoccupied making rounds and yelling at the teachers he found sitting at their desks resting for a while. Another time he called a staff meeting after class and five minutes or so into the meeting, he locked the door to the gym (which was where the meeting was being held) so that teachers who weren't there couldn't get in. I couldn't go in because I needed to drink water after having been teaching for three consecutive periods before the staff meeting. I think something has to change, otherwise it is not very promising.

The parents of this child should be held accountable.

I'm sure the parents of the other children are very concerned about their Safety. If I was the teacher I would not go back to this school. Very traumatizing. This child should not be allowed back in this school. Parents need to be held accountable. School needs to be held accountable. Thank you Dr Grande!🎈🎊 So sad. I am glad the teacher survived.

Student behavior is out of control in schools across the country. What you said, Dr. Grande, about parents whose children have been disciplined wanting the teachers fired is accurate. It's one of the top reasons teachers are leaving the profession. I retired 4 years ago because of the lack of administrative support.

This is extremely disturbing. In the past 30 years we've seen unspeakable acts committed by those that are supposed to be innocent. I never forget the 11 and 13 year old boys who murdered a toddler. There was a boy who recently killed his own mother for not buying him something. Something has gone desperately wrong with our society.

What a horror story. The parents and the school dropped the ball on that one. I admire the teacher was a hero for getting the other children too safety. I believe the school and parents should have some consequences. Thank you Dr Grande. Brilliant analysis and informative topic.

With regard to the attitude of parents; I'm in the UK, and did two horrible years as a supply teacher, substitute teacher in the US, and the attitude of many parents was summed up by one mother stating that she had always told her children to "stand up to teachers"........Huge numbers of children are specifically taught by their parents to have no respect for any kind of authority.

If he was special needs so much he had to be accompanied by a parent, why was he mainstreamed, or allowed in class without said parent?

His posession of the gun proves that it was loaded, unsecured and had no trigger lock.

Back when my parents were kids (1960's to 1970's) the teachers were the one that ran the classroom and if the teacher called the parents it wasn't good when the kid got home. I'm in my late 20's and my parents once grounded me for the whole summer when I was misbehaving (I even had my tv taked away lol). Other kids weren't raised like I was raised and I see the outcome now as adults. I'm sure it's even worse with kids now as I see people in my family and just out and about and i'm like this is not going to end well for them when they get into the real world. The parents should be charged with a felony with this case

I teach in this school division and have received more information from teachers who work in the school. The boy put the gun in his coat and took it to recess. He showed it to multiple students and when they returned to the classroom, they told the teacher. She called administrators so that’s why they searched his backpack. They failed to search his coat or his person for fear of violating his rights. When teachers leave early for a sickness, etc. they will place the teacher’s students in the other teacher’s classrooms if there is not a substitute available for that class. That could explain the teacher sometimes having additional students. Teachers go through a lot more than the public realizes, and do it mostly alone with little to no support.

Thank you, Dr. Grande. This is an unimaginable situation. How a child who is little more than a baby, can even conceive a shooting, is beyond comprehension.

The school is liable! The child had a pattern of violent behaviors. It sounds like he has a disability. The didn't specify why he has these problems. Sometimes traumatic brain injury patients will have violent outbursts like that depending on the part of the brain injured. There was a care plan. Those usually specify the staffing needs of the patient. In a group home setting I've seen people who are staffed 1 to 1 and once 2 to one meaning 2 staff are assigned to the patient at all times. It sounds like the school used the parents at aides, they should have provided a teacher's aide assigned only to him at all times. My friend did this type of job. She was assigned by a student's side at all times. Since he previously threw things in class this should have been in place already for the safety of the other kids for the safety issue of throwing things alone!

Seems like Abigail has all the elements and evidence in her favour for a massive civil lawsuit against the school.

Whoever searched the kid should also be reprimanded. Outsmarted by a 6 yo? You aren't up to your jobs responsibilities. For shame

Ex middle school teacher here-I had a student in my class one year who had some behavior issues. Mostly he was just disruptive and liked to cause trouble. I had to constantly move him to new seats or send him to the dean. One day he was on a mission to disrupt the class. I gave him a verbal warning. The classmates seated next to him heard him say under his breath that he was going to ‘kill me’ if I moved his seat again. After class was over, those students told me what he had said. I of course reported it to my Principal right away. The Principal told me that the boy didn’t mean it and that it wasn’t a big deal, but that he did tell the boy to come say he was sorry to me. I never saw the boy again. His parents pulled him from the school and moved away from what I heard.

We are making a mistake of 'mainstreaming' students with serious mental, emotional and learning disabilities. No one benefits except the bureaucrats who have adopted this as their cause and the parents of these disabled kids who want to alleviate their anxiety. But the teachers and student are left in a poor situation for all. Such students need specialized settings in which they can hopefully be resocialized so that they can later be integrated into the regular environment.

I worked in a pre school (ages 2-6) for 5 years and I observed at least SIX children displaying similar behaviors. I've seen things thrown across the room, I've actually had a child tell me he wanted to stab me in the stomach, a little girl told me she wanted to light all the teachers on fire, another child picked up a chair and threw it, a boy stomped on another little boys stomach, the list goes on and on. These are very young children and I found that even when the parents were notified, more times than not, they were in denial of their child's behavior and/or blaming the school. It's actually very scary; the school had its hands tied and we as teachers were literally not even allowed to say no to the kids let alone discipline them. Dr Grande is right; discipline is needed both in schools at home and parents need to really pull their heads from their ass. If your child is displaying antisocial behaviors they need help in the form of a professional.

HOLD THE SCHOOLS ACCOUNTABLE! THEY KNEW,,, TOO MANY WARNING SIGNS THEY CHOOSE TO IGNORE.

I'm old enough to remember when disciplining schoolchildren was the job of parents, freeing teachers to do their jobs: to teach.

Yessirree, let’s not have kids like this attend separate classes with his particular needs in mind, lest he suffer self-esteem issues. It’s okay that his classmates get terrorized daily by his behavior and have their lessons interrupted, as long as he’s not made to feel different from others. *As unlikely as it may seem, it’s possible he had the gun on him. It’s winter, he could’ve been wearing a coat. Without his parents present, it’s doubtful the school would’ve been comfortable searching him, lest it set him off or the parents cry abuse.

I had a similar situation. Thank God the child "only"destroyed my room and threatened to kill me, all my requests for help went unanswered by administrators. They hid the incident from the parents but my brave first graders told their parents the truth

I’m no doctor but I gotta say. Violence of this level at this age is not something that’s likely to go away. If this kid is allowed to avoid consequences for this and grows up free, I guarantee he’s gonna try to kill more people. Something like this doesn’t just go away. If I’m wrong, just show me a single case like this where the child was reformed and had no further incidents.

Excellent observation Dr. Grande. I taught for 16 years in the capacity of a specialist, so I would see every student in the school at least once a week for approximately 30 minutes. And yes, unfortunately there were some that seemed likely headed in the direction of the six year old in this case. The lack of support that classroom teachers (and specialists) receive from administrators in many cases is deplorable. Students are not disciplined at home, their parents may or may not have been, and everything is left to the teachers, including the academics, music and physical education! A very sad state of affairs indeed.

It's not just the 6-year-old that presents a conundrum for society. We have yet to answer, "What do we do with all the mentally ill people out there, homeless and unable to care for themselves?" My state has washed their hands of them, determining that it's wrong for them to be detained in a mental institution; it infringes on their rights. So they live as best and as long as they can on the streets or in other difficult circumstances for themselves and for those they impact. It's the same unanswered question, 6 years old or 60 years old.

I remember the days when the batsh!t crazy kids rode the short bus to school and went to their own special classroom where they couldn't disturb or harm the normal kids. They came in later and left earlier in the day. I think they were on to something back then.

I try to avoid wearing a tinfoil hat, but the combination of claims that the child had to be accompanied by one of his parents while at school (due to unexplained “disabilities”), that the gun was “secured” and that this was the first time a parent DIDN’T come to school with him feels really hinky to me. “So your damaged kid requires constant minding, being unable to even go to school by himself, and somehow the same day you decide ‘nah, not goin’ with him today’ is the day he somehow accessed your supposedly secured weapon and shoots someone with it, huh?” That’s… interesting. That’s aside from putting a child who can’t function or behave themselves without mom or dad hovering over them at all times in a general classroom in the first place. If your kid is that damaged, other options should be explored.

I used to be a preschool teacher and whenever you called the front desk to get help, they tell you, you're a professional handle it!!! My question is why are these children even put in the classroom with regular kids? We spent all our time trying to control that child in the other kids don't are cheated out of it and education. I just took a course on substitute teaching but I've since changed my mind

I do not understand why children with dire special needs are mainstreamed into the classroom as though nothing is amiss. It is, in a word, insane. I spent a lot of time in public grade schools as part of an internship for my graduate degree. I do not, for example, know who benefits in the second grade classroom when an autistic student spends the entire morning, then the entire afternoon, doing laps around the perimeter of the classroom, all the time talking/muttering to himself. Or the one hundred pound first grader who stands in the middle of the classroom for hours, sobbing. In both cases, these behaviors are ignored by the teachers, but I find it difficult to believe the children are able to ignore the behavior and accept it as normal. It isn’t normal, and I see no benefit to anyone to pretend that it is.

The kiddo's parents must be held accountable to the maximum the law will provide.

Parents are responsible for this child’s actions. They should be arrested and fined.

I'm now 60+ YO. I recently retired early from mental health nursing. We faced very similar dangers and chaos while often understaffed, trying to care for psychotic and often violent patients . Fiscal concerns and public perception was always more of a priority with administration than staff safety. I thank god I am old enough to be retired. One day, in the not so distant future, teachers and nurses will become scarce. No-one in their right mind will choose these professions.

I've had several students who have thrown things, furniture, hit other kids, yelled constantly, left the classroom, etc. And teachers have to deal with it for at least 6 weeks while you observe and document to then request testing for an IEP. It's insane.

What's wrong with that kid's mind?

The parents stayed with the child at school to help with his behavior? When did this start? That’s utter craziness!

What did you add to this story? You just sounded like a news reporter and didn't really give any psychological insight with your doctoral degree here.

I feel for the children who were in the room. So sad.

Good evening Dr Grand. I'm glad the 25 year old teacher lived through this very unfortunate incident. It's shocking. A 6 year old! Amazing, she continues to look after the children removing them out of harms way. Is there any place that is safe.

That poor little kid, feeling hate that intense at 6 yrs old. What will his life be like? So sad.

Something is wrong with that child and both the parents and the school system didn't do enough to help him or other students considering they crammed them all in this room with one teacher.

Another well thought out analysis Dr. Grande. Again, your knowledge of firearms and careful, common-sense explanation raises valid questions about the parenting of the offender, the school's liability regarding the signs of potential problems with the offender and the obvious holes in the story provided to the public regarding how a six-year-old obtains a gun and brings it into a classroom. There are a lot of unanswered questions here.

Well said, Dr. Grande. I’m a teacher and live this every day… lack of support, parents backlash when even letting them know their child made a bad choice during the day. I wish the public really knew our daily struggles

While I totally see the benefits of inclusion for children with special needs, it has gone too far in the wrong direction. When I was in school, they had special classes and even schools for kids with severe behavior problems and emotional disturbances with the individual trained attention that they need. It was way easier to get this help for kids. When they did better, they could go back to a regular class. These services are now extremely hard to get because they exclude kids from the regular classroom.

I was a school nurse for over 10 years before moving abroad. I would help write plans for students like this one. Not once was a parent to accompany their child to class. Why was this student not appropriately supported? Was a general education classroom not the appropriate placement? Why was the decision made to not have the parent attend when the student had made a death threat to the teacher? I have so many questions. Thank you for your analysis.

This is what it's like daily in all blc schools.

Some people don't believe people can be born evil. I disagree.

Thanks for touching on this Dr. G! This was so heartbreaking. My nephew is the same age, just a little peanut. He receives treatment for ADHD and ODD, though it’s controversial for children under 7. Can you touch on ODD or this combination someday? Not many have heard of it.

That teacher should get an award for how she calmly got those other kids out of the room and to safety. That 6 year old boy is super frightening, I'm sorry to say. He had to learn it from somewhere.

When teachers ask for help they are labeled as bad classroom managers and marked low on evaluations.

To add one thing to the many posts about this (as usual) excellent Dr. Grande video - that teacher is a hero. I watched the police captain giving an interview a few days after this and he was so emotional talking about what an amazing job she did - after having a life-threatening bullet to the chest she got all of her students out of the class and was the last to leave. 🏆 ❤️

Unfortunately this is reality in public schools all across the nation. From my previous teaching experience, most parents in inner city public schools view the school as the glorified babysitting service while they go work. For a variety of reasons, the parents are not involved in their child's education. They view their children as "good kids" because all their children do upon coming home from school is going straight to their room and using video games, TV, tablet, Or the phone until they go to bed. When the parents don't hear anything coming from their children's room, they tell us as teachers, "my child is a great kid he never gives me problems". They never give you problems because they are out of your hair, With zero interaction with you as a parent, doing whatever they want to do with no limits or boundaries. In school , a place where there are rules and discipline, These children then become a problem.

I'm a teacher, and Abigail is an unfortunate victim of the toxic environment of which we are working. This environment needs to change.

I taught elementary school for Newport News Public Schools for 6 years. I've always been an advocate for the systems approach to the safety of their employees, families and communities. In past 5 years or so with school districts across the country , teacher's voices are not always considered, parents seem to have control over administrators and teacher's dont have the support of leaders. Unfortunately, it seems as if no matter the situation, the teacher face the consequences, it's their fault and the families come out on top.

How come no one blames the parents? They were barely mentioned. They are responsible for the upbringing of this boy and the gun. They are guilty.

we have every reason to blame complacent, ignorant school officials; the chaotic system then encourages society to "hug the shooter/murderer," encouraging them to do what they do. and then as years go by, the crimes & grievances multiply and they eventually end up in prison. i understand how schools have difficulty finding teachers at all.

I know a guy who told me his own 5/6 year old says weird stuff about wanting to hurt or kill people. They have the kid in therapy, but the dad says the kid knows how to be "normal" in front of the therapist. It's really disturbing. I assumed kids like that had to be abused badly, but I know this guy doesn't do that. They have to be getting it from somewhere though, because kids that young mostly mimic what they think adults are doing.

I wake up every night here around 1:00 a.m., without fail. I fell asleep watching one of your videos and always have a new one to watch. I am so glad you're here. The way you put videos together with the the timeline and the way you successfully put together all the relevant information in this perfect-like format, makes you my favorite channel to watch on RU-vid. I like alot of different topics, so that says alot. Thank you for all the research and hard work you put in to make these videos!!

What a disturbing case, and all her expressed fears and concerns were just ignored. It's hard to comprehend a 6 year old, actually planning such harm.... Such a great video, Dr. Grande!

This is how it is in public education now. I’ve been in the game 12 years and it’s not pretty most of the time. Teachers are unsupported and then blamed by administration. Teachers get cussed out and beaten up by students and those kids go back to class five minutes later with a lollipop in their mouth for talking about their feelings. 🙄 I no longer call for help. I just run my own discipline and it’s the only thing that works. My kids are sweethearts and do an excellent job in class. Don’t call admin for help because they don’t help because they don’t care. Thanks for being a voice for us, Dr. G!!