2023-08-15 15:19:00
The mother of the 6-year-old boy who fatally shot his first-grade teacher at a Virginia school pleaded guilty to child neglect Tuesday in a Virginia court in connection with the January shooting.
Deja Taylor, 26, had been charged with felony child neglect. She could spend up to six months in a state prison, according to what the Prosecutor’s Office recommended. She will be sentenced on October 27.
Abigail Zwerner, an elementary school teacher from Virginia, in a March 20, 2023 photo. Carlos Bernate for NBC News
The woman reached a plea agreement with prosecutors to drop a second charge against her for leaving a loaded gun within the child’s reach. That allowed him to avoid a possible six-year prison sentence.
Tuesday’s hearing renewed national attention on school safety and gun violence following the freak shooting that led to the ouster of the school superintendent and an assistant principal.
Abigail Zwerner, the teacher who was the victim of the shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, she was seriously injured but survived.
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The teacher filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school district, alleging that school administrators ignored multiple warnings from staff and students that the boy had a weapon and posed an imminent threat on the day of the shooting. .
The boy, according to what the teacher alleged in the lawsuit, also “had a history of random attacks” and “violence.”
Newport News Public Schools said in a statement this month that it cannot comment on the ongoing legal action, but that it has “worked cooperatively” with authorities and “remains committed to ensuring the well-being and care of all students and the staff”.
James Ellenson, Taylor’s lawyer, said Tuesday that the minor’s mother remains sorry for the events, although she does not agree with going to jail. “She feels very responsible, she feels very bad,” she expanded. “It’s all very upsetting for everyone.”
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