VA School Where Boy, 6, Shot Teacher At Center Of Criminal Probe

NEWPORT NEWS, VA — A Newport News prosecutor is exploring possible charges against staff members at an elementary school where police say a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher in January, according to multiple reports citing court documents released Tuesday.

Howard Gwynn, the commonwealth's attorney in Newport News, filed a petition for a special grand jury to probe if any "security failures" contributed to the shooting at Richneck Elementary that seriously wounded first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner.

A judge granted the petition and signed the order Monday, according to a WAVY report. Eleven jurors will be appointed to the panel and will serve a total of six months starting Monday.

The grand jury will be tasked with determining whether any criminal activity occurred and the circumstances surrounding that activity, WAVY reported. The grand jury will also determine whether those deemed criminally responsible will be charged.

In the petition, Gwynn wrote that an investigation could also lead to recommendations "in the hopes that such a situation never occurs again."

Newport News police have accused the 6-year-old boy of shooting Zwerner inside a classroom on Jan. 6. Police said the boy took his mother's 9mm handgun to school, pulled it from his backpack and used it to shoot Zwerner.

Police Chief Steve Drew has repeatedly characterized the shooting as "intentional," saying the boy aimed at Zwerner and fired one round, striking her in the hand and chest. The shot resulted in severe injuries, including a lung collapse.

On Monday, authorities announced the mother of the 6-year-old would be charged with felony child neglect and misdemeanor recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child.

The mother was identified as Deja Taylor, officials said.

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Meanwhile, Zwener 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.

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.

Zwerner also alleges that school officials knew the boy "had a history of random violence" at school and home, including that he "strangled and choked" his kindergarten teacher.

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 after the shooting, while the board voted to remove Parker "without cause," and Newton was transferred to a different role within the district.

Parker is among those who could possibly be charged, according to a Washington Post report citing two people familiar with the investigation.

Since the shooting, teachers and parents have publicly lambasted school authorities, accusing them of not doing enough to protect children and staff. On Jan. 25, the Newport News school board voted to fire Parker after he faced a barrage of criticism following the shooting.

Chuck Vergon, a professor of educational law and policy at the University of Michigan-Flint, said it is rare for a teacher or school official to be charged in a school shooting because allegations of criminal negligence can be challenging to prove. More often, he said, those impacted by school shootings seek to hold school officials liable in civil court.

Vergon, who has been studying school shootings and liability for about seven years, said he thinks the increase in school shootings combined with hundreds of new school safety laws passed after Parkland could lead to more civil actions to hold school officials accountable.

"Those laws begin to make more explicit the duties of schools and school districts in terms of preparing for and hopefully preventing or minimizing school shootings," Vergon said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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