Washington, Jan 7 (IANS): Police in the US state of Virginia has detained a six-year-old boy for shooting at his teacher, the media reported.

The incident took place on Friday afternoon at the Richneck Elementary School in the city of Newport News, about 112 km south of the state capital Richmond, the BBC reported.

Although it remains unclear how the child got the gun, the city's police chief Steve Drew told the media that the "incident was not an accidental shooting" which took place in a first grade classroom after an altercation between the boy and his teacher who has been hospitalised with life-threatening injuries.

Officials said that while the school, which has around 550 students, had metal detection facilities, students were checked at random and not every child was inspected.

School District Head George Parker said officials would "be looking at any instance that may have occurred that may have caused this incident", the BBC reported.

"This is terrible, something like this should never occur... We want to ensure nothing like this happens again," he said, adding the school would be closed on Monday.

The city's Mayor Phillip Jones, who took office just three days ago, said the shooting marked "a dark day for Newport News".

"We're going to learn from this and we're going to come back stronger," he told reporters.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said he had offered assistance to local officials, adding that his administration was "ready to help in any way we can".

"I am continuing to monitor the situation and am praying for the continued safety of all students and the community," he wrote on Twitter.