NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Newport News grand jury on Monday indicted the mother of the 6-year-old boy who shot his first grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School three months ago.
Deja Nicole Taylor, 25, of Newport News — whose son shot 25-year-old teacher Abby Zwerner during class on Jan. 6 — was charged with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly leaving a firearm so as to endanger a child.
Newport News prosecutors have also asked a Circuit Court judge to impanel a “special grand jury” to “continue the investigation into any security issues that may have contributed to this shooting.” This could include looking at Richneck administrators, the school system and anyone else.
Such a probe could take months — and could lead to more indictments.
“Their investigation will continue as long as necessary to determine whether others are criminally responsible for the shooting of January 6,” the Newport News commonwealth’s attorney’s office wrote in a news release Monday afternoon.
The criminal charges against the 6-year-old’s mother “come after a thorough investigation by Newport News Police Department and this office,” the release said, saying “the facts and the law support charging Deja Taylor” with the felony and misdemeanor counts.
“Every criminal case is unique in its facts, and these facts support these charges, but our investigation into the shooting continues,” Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn said in the release.
The news that a 6-year-old student shot his teacher during class at Richneck made headlines across the country and the world.
As the boy sat at his desk in his first grade classroom that day, he suddenly pulled a gun out of his front hoodie pocket, pointed it at his teacher — seated at a reading table less than 10 feet away — and fired a single round.
The bullet went through Zwerner’s left hand — which she held up as the boy opened fire — and then struck her in the upper chest and shoulder, where it remains today. Police have called the shooting an intentional act.
Zwerner, of York County, managed to shuttle 18 students out of the first grade classroom before seeking help at a school office.
Police Chief Steve Drew later said the 6-year-old used his mother’s handgun, a Taurus 9 mm. She legally purchased the firearm in York County, with the boy bringing it to school in his backpack.
Newport News Police turned their case file to Gwynn in late February. The file included several binders of interviews and other documents, surveillance footage from the school and body camera footage from responding officers.
It wasn’t clear what police detectives had recommended in terms of charges.
Gwynn has ruled out charging the 6-year-old, saying he’s too young to have formed the criminal intent necessary. But the prosecutor’s office has looked into the case — and possible charges against others — for the past six weeks.
Grand jurors got case Monday
On Monday morning, prosecutors took their case to a seven-member Newport News Circuit Court grand jury, seeking direct indictments against Taylor.
The grand jury — which meets in private — returned two “true bills,” indicting Taylor on one felony and one misdemeanor count. Unlike regular trial juries that in Virginia have to be unanimous, grand juries act on majority rule.
Under the Virginia code section used to charge Taylor with felony child neglect, the grand jury contends she’s shown a “reckless disregard” for the lives of others.
“Any parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the care of a child under the age of 18 whose willful act or omission in the care of such child was so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life is guilty of a Class 6 felony,” the statute says.
That’s punishable by up to five years behind bars.
The grand jury also indicted Taylor — at the prosecution’s request — on the misdemeanor charge of “allowing access to firearms by children.”
That is, she’s accused of “recklessly leaving a loaded, unsecured firearm in such a manner as to endanger the life or limb of any child under the age of fourteen.”
That charge can be brought even if the child wasn’t hurt. The count is punishable by a year behind bars, bringing the potential jail time against Taylor to six years.
But basic questions are unanswered with the process.
If Taylor had been arrested by police under a traditional arrest warrant, Newport News magistrates would have likely required that probable cause for the crime — an outline of the evidence — be outlined in a publicly filed criminal complaint document.
But indictments filed in state Circuit Courts tend to be bare bones, meaning the detailed evidence might only come out as the case against Taylor proceeds. The indictments against her, for example, are unlikely to spell out how police believe the boy gained access to his mother’s gun that day.
Gun was secured, mother’s lawyer says
Taylor hasn’t been arrested on the charges, with Taylor’s defense attorney, James Ellenson, having said that prosecutors have agreed to allow him to take Taylor to turn herself in.
Ellenson has said his client strongly maintains she kept the gun secured by a trigger lock, a mechanism that prevents the weapon from being fired.
Moreover, Ellenson asserted that the handgun was stored on the top shelf of a bedroom closet. Taylor has “no idea” how the boy gained access to the gun on the day of the shooting, Ellenson said.
She has no prior criminal record, according to Ellenson and a check of local courts.
Special grand jury to investigate further
As far as the special grand jury to look further into the case, such a panel is allowed under Virginia law by the motion of the commonwealth’s attorney of a particular jurisdiction.
The top prosecutor in each district can ask for the special grand jury — of between seven to 11 citizen members — “to investigate and report on any condition that involves or tends to promote criminal activity.”
It wasn’t clear exactly what Newport News prosecutors are seeking to have the panel look into, and there’s no set time frame for how long such an investigation could take. But the special grand jury — which under law will convene in private — could file more indictments depending on what they find.
“The safety and security of Newport News students is of utmost importance,” Gwynn added in the statement, saying the facts and the law will drive the decision. “If the special grand jury determines that additional persons are criminally responsible under the law, it can return additional indictments.”
As they investigate a case, special grand juries have the power under law to subpoena documents and compel people to testify under oath. Though witnesses can plead the Fifth — and decline to talk so as not to incriminate themselves — the procedure is a powerful investigatory tool to force witnesses to cooperate.
Under law, a special grand jury is authorized to issue a report of its findings, including “any recommendations that it may deem appropriate.”
“Such report shall be sealed and not open to public inspection, other than by order of the court,” the statute says, meaning a judge could order it unsealed at his or her discretion.
Lawsuit says assistant principal ignored warnings
In a lawsuit last week against the Newport News School Board, Zwerner contends that one administrator, Richneck Assistant Principal Ebony Parker, ignored several stark warnings that the boy had a gun on him that day.
Two days before the shooting, the complaint said, the boy took and threw Zwerner’s cell phone, shattering the glass. That led to a one-day suspension.
On Jan. 6, the complaint says, Zwerner told Parker the boy was in a “violent mood” and threatened to beat up a kindergartener during lunch. But Parker “had no response ... refusing even to look up at (Zwerner) when she expressed her concerns,” the complaint asserts.
During recess, Zwerner told a reading specialist and another teacher that she saw the 6-year-old taking something out of his backpack in the classroom. The reading specialist searched the boy’s pack — still in the classroom — but didn’t find a weapon.
But when that reading specialist approached Parker, the complaint contends, she replied the boy has little pockets that were too small to hold a handgun.
The other first grade teacher pulled another student aside after recess and asked about a gun, the complaint says. That student then tearfully admitted that the 6-year-old showed him a gun at recess, the complaint alleges.
That teacher called the school office, the complaint says, urgently telling a Richneck music teacher about the concerns. But when the music teacher approached Parker, she said the boy’s backpack had already been searched.
When a guidance counselor sought permission to search the boy, the complaint says Parker denied the request on the grounds that the 6-year-old’s mother would soon be by to pick him up.
The special grand jury will have its own discretion on what to investigate. But the newly convened panel would have the power to look into the conduct of school system officials as part of its investigation into whether to bring more charges.
“The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all members of our community, particularly our children,” the news release said. The office said it will make no further comment on the case so as not “to interfere with the fairness of a trial by jury.”
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