The mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in Virginia pleaded guilty to a charge of felony child neglect, seven months after her son used her handgun to critically wound the educator in a classroom full of students.
Police said the first grader intentionally shot teacher Abby Zwerner as she sat at a reading table during a lesson. Zwerner, who was hit in the hand and chest, spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has endured multiple surgeries.
Deja Taylor, the mom of the child, was charged in April with felony child neglect and appeared at an Aug. 15 plea hearing in Newport News.
The January shooting shocked the nation. The case against Taylor is one of three legal efforts seeking accountability, including the teacher’s $40 million lawsuit that accuses the school system of gross negligence.
After being shot, Zwerner evacuated her entire classroom before seeking care for herself. The police chief said security cameras show the students running out of the classroom to a nearby location, and that Zwerner was the last person to leave the room.
“I just wanted to get my babies out of there,” Zwerner told TODAY's Savannah Guthrie in an interview in March. "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."
Moments after the shooting, according to search warrants filed in the case, the child told a reading specialist who restrained him: “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I got my mom’s gun last night.”
Police said the student brought the gun to school in his backpack, which had images of sharks on it.
Taylor told police she believed the gun was in her purse, secured with a trigger lock and on top of her bedroom dresser, according to search warrants. She said she kept the gunlock key under her bedroom mattress.
But agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they never found a trigger lock after conducting searches, according to federal court documents.
Prosecutors agreed to drop the misdemeanor charge of reckless storage of a firearm.
In June, Taylor pleaded guilty in a separate but related federal case to using marijuana while possessing a firearm, which is illegal under U.S. law.
Taylor was seeking a plea agreement with local prosecutors in Newport News. Her attorney, James Ellenson, said in April that there were “mitigating circumstances,” including Taylor’s miscarriages and postpartum depression before the shooting.
The maximum sentence could mean up to 5 years in prison for Taylor. But prosecutors agreed not to recommend a sentence more than six months. The judge will be able to impose a more or less severe sentence if he so chooses. Sentencing is scheduled for October 27.