(TheRedAlertNews.com) – The mother of the 6-year-old boy who shot his elementary school teacher earlier this year in Newport News, Virginia, has been charged with crimes.
On January 6, the child, whose name is not revealed, pulled out a handgun during class and shot 25-year-old first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner.
A grand jury in Newport News has now charged the boy’s mother – Deja Nicole Taylor, 25 – with “felony child neglect and recklessly leaving a firearm so as to endanger a child,” The New York Post reported.
The continuing investigation into the case could also call into question how the Richneck Elementary School administrators handled the child before the shooting, according to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
“Their investigation will continue as long as necessary to determine whether others are criminally responsible for the shooting of January 6,” the DA office stated.
The victim, Abby Zwerner, has launched a $40 million lawsuit, insisting that the first-grader who shot and nearly killed her had “a history of random violence.”
“[There had been] multiple reports that a firearm was on school property and likely in possession of a violent individual,” the teacher’s suit said.
It pointed out that the “troubled youngster” was suspended from class two days before the shooting for smashing Zwerner’s phone.
“We know for a fact that there were at least three opportunities for them to stop this from happening,” Jeffrey Breit, one of the teacher’s lawyers, told the “Today” show after filing the suit on April 3.
Reports revealed weeks after the shooting that a teacher had alerted school officials that the boy had brought a gun to school in his backpack and had shown it to another child.
The school’s principal was dismissed after it became clear that the administrators failed to act on the tip, which could have prevented the shooting.
Zwerner’s lawsuit targets three defendants: Richneck’s former principal Briana Foster Newton, former assistant principal Ebony Parker, and former school superintendent George Parker III.
In an interview last month, the teacher revealed she was still haunted by the look on the underage shooter’s face and that she had a bullet lodged in her chest.
“I remember him pointing the gun at me, I remember the look on his face, I remember the gun going off,” she told the NBC News program “Today.”
“There’s some things that I’ll never forget. And I just will never forget the look on his face that he gave me while he pointed the gun directly at me. That’s something that I will never forget. It’s changed me. It’s changed my life,” Zwerner said.
What is your opinion? Would you have charged the mother with crimes? Share your thoughts and views by emailing [email protected]. Thank you.
