Mother of boy who shot Virginia teacher gets 21-month sentence on gun charges

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Abigail Zwerner told a federal judge Wednesday that she loved children and “was thrilled to be involved with them” but that she would never set foot in a classroom again as a teacher.

Not after a bullet fired by one of her 6-year-old students tore through her left hand and collapsed one of her lungs. She was teaching at Richneck Elementary School here when the shooting occurred Jan. 6, and she found herself on the floor, wondering “whether it will be my final moment on earth.”

Not after she endured five surgeries to fix her hand and lung. Not after the anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder that followed. And not after all the “nightmares of gore, blood and death, always involving firearms.”

“I feel as if I have lost my purpose,” Zwerner said, standing at a courtroom lectern.

She gave her account of the shooting in a victim impact statement to Chief U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis at the sentencing of Deja Taylor, 26, the mother of the boy who shot her. Taylor on Wednesday was given a 21-month prison term for federal convictions related to the weapon used in the shooting.

Taylor, of Newport News, pleaded guilty in federal court here in June to one count of possessing a firearm while being a drug user and one count of lying on a background check about her marijuana use while purchasing the handgun that her son used to open fire on his first-grade teacher.

[Virginia teacher shot by 6-year-old student can proceed with $40 million lawsuit, judge rules]

Taylor looked down while Zwerner gave her statement and wiped away tears as Davis handed down his sentence a short time later. He said Taylor had failed eight court-ordered drug tests since her arrest.

“There were too many off-ramps here,” Davis told her. “This was not a one-off. There was a really troubling history leading up to this incident.”

The judge also told Zwerner it was “just a travesty” that she had to suffer as she did.

The shooting seized national attention because of the shooter’s young age and stirred outrage in Newport News, where many questioned whether administrators at the school had done enough to prevent the incident. It also led the school district to part ways with its superintendent.

The boy, now 7, who has not been charged in the case, said he climbed up a dresser to get his mother’s gun from her purse before taking it to school in a backpack on Jan. 6, according to a court filing and police. He opened fire on Zwerner while she was teaching a lesson near the end of the school day.

Zwerner alleges in a $40 million lawsuit that Richneck Assistant Principal Ebony Parker ignored several warnings on the day of the shooting that the boy might have a gun. She also asserts that she told Parker that the boy was in a “violent mood” and had threatened to beat up another child not long before the shooting.

The suit alleges that Parker failed to act on any of the warnings. Parker and her attorney have not responded to numerous requests for comment. A Virginia judge ruled earlier this month that Zwerner’s civil case can move forward against Richneck administrators and school district officials.

Taylor did not speak in court Wednesday, but Gene Rossi, her attorney, read a short statement from her saying she was “extremely sorry and very remorseful for my actions.” He said in court that she had mental health and substance abuse issues and that incarceration was not the answer.

A prosecutor with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia revealed new details about the case in a sentencing memorandum. Lisa R. McKeel wrote that Jan. 6 was not the first time Taylor’s gun had been fired in public.

Prosecutors cited a series of text messages between Taylor and the boy’s father, which appear to show that Taylor opened fire on him with the same weapon about a month before the shooting at Richneck Elementary, according to the filing.

The shooting followed a dispute over whether the father was cheating on Taylor with another woman, according to text messages included in the memo. The father was not hurt in the incident.

McKeel also wrote in the memo that Taylor’s son had twice taken her car keys from her purse and gotten into her car. On one occasion, he crashed the vehicle, and on the other he refused to leave, according to the memo. Police had to break a window to get him out.

Following the school shooting, investigators found copious amounts of marijuana in Taylor’s residences and vehicle during searches, according to court filings. She had also been stopped by Williamsburg, Va., police for speeding in 2021 and officers discovered marijuana in the car.

Taylor denied any knowledge of the drugs found in the car during the speeding stop, according to a court filing.

Taylor admitted to not showing up for drug counseling and failing court-ordered drug tests after her conviction in the Richneck case, while she was out on bond awaiting sentencing. Prosecutors tried to have her jailed for the violations, but a judge refused in September.

“This case is not a marijuana case,” McKeel wrote. “It is a case that underscores the inherently dangerous nature and circumstances that arise from the caustic cocktail of mixing consistent and prolonged controlled substance use with a lethal firearm.”

The boy is currently in the custody of Taylor’s grandfather, and his mother has had supervised visits with him.

Taylor is also facing a second sentencing in a case in Virginia state court in Newport News.

In August, Taylor pleaded guilty to felony child neglect as part of a deal with the Newport News commonwealth’s attorney’s office related to the Richneck shooting. Prosecutors are asking for a sentence of up to six months in jail, but a judge could depart from that recommendation when Taylor is sentenced on Dec. 15.

The investigation into the shooting at Richneck also continues. Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard E. Gwynn has empaneled a special grand jury to probe “any actions or omissions” by any current or former employee of Newport News schools that contributed to the shooting. He has not cited anyone by name.