The mother of a 6-year-old boy who seriously wounded his teacher with a gun in January will face charges in the shooting, a local prosecutor in Virginia said Monday.
A grand jury indicted the mother, Deja Taylor, and charged her with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child, Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn said. The announcement of an indictment comes a month after Gwynn said he would not seek charges against the student, but was weighing whether to hold any adults criminally liable.
“Every criminal case is unique in its facts, and these facts support these charges, but our investigation into the shooting continues,” Gwynn said in a statement.
His office has also petitioned a circuit court to empanel a special grand jury to continue an investigation into potential security issues that may have led to the shooting.
A lawyer for Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday about the charges.
A week ago, the injured teacher, Abigail Zwerner, filed a $40 million lawsuit alleging administrators at Richneck Elementary School shrugged off multiple warnings from staff and students who believed the boy had a gun and posed an imminent threat on the day of the shooting on Jan. 6.
The student shot Zwerner with a 9 mm handgun while she sat at a reading table in their first-grade classroom, according to officials.
In the wake of the incident, an assistant principal accused of ignoring warnings resigned and the schools superintendent, George Parker III, was removed by the school board “without cause.”
Newport News police had praised Zwerner for managing to escort her class of about 20 students to safety even after she was seriously wounded in her left hand and chest. Police said the shooting was intentional.
Since the incident, the district has also implemented metal detectors and installed a full-time security guard at Richneck.
“The safety and wellbeing of our staff and students is our most important priority,” the Newport News school board said in a prior statement, adding that officials “will continue to do whatever it takes to ensure a safe and secure teaching and learning environment across all our schools.”
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
Chelsea Damberg contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
