Mother of 6-year-old who shot Virginia teacher sentenced on child neglect charge

[December 16, 2023]  By Rich McKay
 
(Reuters) - A Virginia mother was sentenced to two years in prison on a state charge of felony child neglect after her 6-year-old son shot and wounded his teacher last January with a gun that she failed to secure properly, local media reported on Friday.   

The mother, Deja Taylor, faced up to five years in prison. This sentence is greater than the original plea deal with prosecutors for a reduced sentence to six months. She is also to serve two years probation.

Calls to the prosecutor to confirm the sentencing and a call to the defense attorney seeking comment were not immediately returned to Reuters.

Taylor, 26, whose son shot his teacher Abby Zwerner at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, previously pleaded guilty to gun charges in a separate federal case and was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison in November. As part of the state plea deal, she can serve her state sentence concurrently.

According to police, the boy had taken the 9mm pistol from his mother's purse, hid it in his backpack and took it out while Zwerner was teaching class, firing a single shot through her hand and into her chest.

Zwerner survived the wounds and was hailed as a hero for evacuating students from her classroom.

Zwerner's lawyer, who filed a $40 million lawsuit against school administrators on her client's behalf, has said that Richneck Elementary officials had been warned three times the day of the shooting that the boy was armed.

Zwerner has not returned to the classroom, media accounts say.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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