Mother Of VA 6-Year-Old Indicted After Elementary School Shooting

NEWPORT NEWS, VA —The mother of a Virginia 6-year-old who police said shot his teacher at Richneck Elementary School in January has been charged with felony child neglect and misdemeanor recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child, the Commonwealth Attorney's office said in a news release Monday.

The mother has been identified as Deja Taylor, officials said.

"Every criminal case is unique in its facts, and these facts support these charges, but our investigation into the shooting continues," the Commonwealth's attorney Howard Gwynn said.

The state's attorney has petitioned for a special grand jury to continue to investigate whether any security issues may have contributed to the case.

"The Special Grand Jury will investigate to determine whether additional charges against additional persons are justified by the facts and the law," Gwynn added.

Abigail Zwerner, the 25-year-old teacher who police said was shot by her student in her first-grade classroom on Jan. 6, has filed a $40 million lawsuit alleging the school's administrators ignored multiple warnings that the boy posed a threat, according to the lawsuit obtained by NBC News and information shared by her lawyers in a television interview last week.

Abby Zwerner's complaint, filed in the Newport News Circuit Court, says Richneck Assistant Principal Ebony Parker chose to "breach her assumed duty" to protect Zwerner, "despite multiple reports that a firearm was on school property and likely in possession of a violent individual," according to NBC News.

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In addition to Parker, the defendants are the Newport News School Board, former schools Superintendent George Parker III, and Richneck principal Briana Foster Newton. Parker resigned in the wake of the shooting, while the board voted to remove Parker III "without cause" and Newton was transferred to a different role within the district, NBC News reported.

Newport News police said the 6-year-old took his mother's 9mm handgun to school, pulled it from his backpack, and used it to shoot Zwerner, resulting in serious injuries including a lung collapse.

According to Zwerner's complaint, which was obtained by NBC News, the boy had been accused of violence at school on multiple occasions in the past, including strangling and choking a teacher during the 2021-2022 school year and "chasing students around the playground with a belt in an effort to whip them with it."

He was transferred out of the school and placed in a different school in the district but was allowed to return the following year, according to the complaint.

Newport News Superintendent of Schools George Parker told parents after the incident that a school official was notified about the weapon before the shooting. However, no gun was found when the child's backpack was searched.

Last month, Gwynn said his office will not criminally charge the boy because he wouldn’t understand the legal system and what a charge means.

The boy had fired his mother’s gun, which police said was legally purchased. An attorney for the boy’s family has said that the firearm was secured on a closet shelf and had a lock on it.

The family also said the boy has a disability and was receiving the "treatment he needs" under a court-ordered temporary detention at a medical facility.

Zwerner is seeking a jury trial, according to NBC News.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.