Virginia panel documents history of violence by 6-year-old who shot teacher

[April 11, 2024]  By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) - A 6-year-old boy who shot and wounded his teacher last year in Virginia had a history of violent outbursts in school, including the choking of another teacher that led to his expulsion from kindergarten, according to an investigative report released on Wednesday.

The boy's record of disruptive behavior and physical abuse of fellow students and staff at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, were documented in the 30-page report from a special grand jury empaneled by the city's chief prosecutor.

The report also cited what it said were numerous failures by school administrators, especially Richneck's former assistant principal, Ebony Parker, to effectively address the child's disciplinary problems or keep his classmates' parents informed.

The 11-member panel said "shocking" lapses of judgment and inaction by Parker, who resigned after the shooting, constituted criminal liability for the circumstances that led to the gun violence.

An indictment returned by the grand jury charged Parker with eight counts of felony child neglect, one for every bullet contained in the handgun he brought to school from home in a backpack and used to shoot first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner on Jan. 6, 2023.

The charges, punishable by up to five years in prison on each count if Parker were convicted, were unsealed on Tuesday in a case that has drawn national attention due to the shooter's age. Few, if any, school administrators are known to have been criminally prosecuted over gun violence in schools.

The grand jury found that Parker had neglected to take action on four occasions when students and staff had warned that, on the day of the shooting, the boy was believed to have carried a firearm to school. She declined at one point to allow his backpack to be searched, the report said.

Many of the same allegations were leveled in a civil lawsuit brought against school administrators by Zwerner last April.

Parker could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday. But according to the Washington Post, her lawyer has denied the allegations in Zwerner's civil complaint.

'BAFFLING DECISIONS'

The grand jury faulted school administrators generally for "several missed opportunities and baffling decisions" in failing to provide the boy greater support services available for children with behavior and emotional disturbances.

In one instance during kindergarten, about 15 months before the shooting, the boy had walked up behind his teacher and clamped his arms around her neck, choking her until a teacher's assistant managed to break his grip, the report said.

The boy was later expelled but allowed to return the following academic year at Richneck, where his pattern of disruptive and violent behavior continued, the report said. One parent testified her son had been choked twice by the same boy but was never told he had a history of similar aggression.

The report also cited numerous security lapses it said could have resulted in worse bloodshed had the boy's gun not jammed after the first shot.

Zwerner was struck by a single round in the hand and chest as she sat at a reading table in front of 15 other 6- and 7-year-olds, and managed to herd them from her classroom before staggering to the school office and collapsing.

According to the grand jury account, a reading specialist who ran into the class pulled the boy away from the weapon and restrained him until police arrived.

Prosecutors said last year they would not seek to charge the boy. His mother, Deja Taylor, pleaded guilty to child neglect in state court and gun charges in a separate federal case and is serving two-year teams for both concurrently.

Taylor was ordered to avoid any contact with her son until he is 18. The boy was placed in the care of her relatives.

The grand jury report absolved then-principal of the school, Briana Foster, of criminal responsibility, finding that she was preoccupied with a series of meetings the day of the shooting and was not kept informed of events as they unfolded.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; editing by Miral Fahmy)

[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.