NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The great-grandfather of the 6-year-old shooter at Richneck Elementary says the boy is thriving — living with him and attending a new school in the region.
Calvin Jerome Taylor, a retired Army soldier, said a Newport News judge granted him full custody of his great-grandson on Jan. 17, or 11 days after the shooting that shocked the nation.
The first grader was released in April from Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, where he was evaluated and treated after he shot his 25-year-old teacher, Abigail Zwerner, during class on Jan. 6.
He then moved in with his great-granddad.
“He’s doing wonderful,” Taylor, 62, said Friday. “I’m picking him up from school as we speak. Well, as soon as I get through this traffic.”
He declined to say which school the 6-year-old — who turns 7 this month — is attending. But Taylor said it’s a private institution that’s not part of Newport News Public Schools.
“I really don’t want to say which school, since you guys have a habit of popping up places,” he said of news reporters. “And I would not want to do that to this school.
“He’s reading, writing, counting, doing everything a kid his age should do. He’s progressing. He’s progressed more since he’s been at this school than all those crazy years he was in a Newport News public school system. And I guess basically what he needed was a stable environment. And he just needed to be in a loving environment.
“And he’s gonna get that from me. We have a good time. We play games.”
Those descriptions of the boy’s life mark a vast improvement from what was is asserted in court records about his behavior at Richneck.
According to a lawsuit filed by Zwerner’s lawyers against the against the school division, the 6-year-old choked another teacher in the academic year prior to the shooting, causing him to be moved to a different school.
When he came back to Richneck in the fall of 2022, the lawsuit says, the boy cursed at staff and one day took off his belt and chased schoolmates in the playground, trying to whip them. Two days before the shooting, the lawsuit asserts, he cursed at guidance counselors and “slammed Ms. Zwerner’s phone, breaking it.” That led to his suspension the next day.
On the morning of the shooting, police said, the boy gained access to his mother’s handgun at home, put it in his backpack and carried it to school. While sitting at his desk at about 2 p.m., he fired a single round at Zwerner, who was sitting at a nearby reading table. She was struck in the hand and upper chest.
The 6-year-old and his mother were living with Taylor at the time, and he said Friday he regrets not acting more quickly.
“I think that maybe we as a family could have stepped in a lot sooner,” he said. “It just bothers me. But guess what? I may have failed him once, but I’m not going to fail him again … My sole purpose now is to make sure that this young man has a better chance in life than his first couple of years.”
He said his great-grandson will never return to Newport News Public Schools, which he believes failed the child. And he says he’s grateful a Newport News juvenile court judge granted him full custody.
“They wanted to take that little boy and put him in a system and whisk him away somewhere like he was public enemy No. 1,” Taylor said of a local social service agency. “Which is not right. Because guess what? Had I not been in court that day, I would probably still be fighting for him. I will fight for him to my dying breath.”
Taylor said his granddaughter — the boy’s mother, Deja Nicole Taylor — no longer lives with him. She’s now living with her mother elsewhere in Newport News.
In state court, Deja Taylor faces a pending felony child neglect charge as well as a misdemeanor charge of allowing a minor access to a firearm. She also faces federal charges of having a gun while using marijuana, a drug that’s still illegal federally. Moreover, she’s accused of lying on a federal background check when she said she didn’t use weed — when prosecutors contend that she was actually a heavy user.
The boy’s father, Malik Ellison, was involved somewhat in his son’s life but wasn’t living with him. He has numerous convictions on his record and is currently a fugitive from justice, having failed to show for a court hearing to resolve a 2020 charge of assaulting Deja Taylor.
“His role is very limited,” Calvin Taylor said of Ellison. “Just like my granddaughter’s role is very limited. They’re always gonna be his parents, but until they can get their lives together, that’s how we are gonna be.”
Taylor said several acquaintances have suggested he leave the area with his great-grandson and start anew. But he and his wife’s family “have deep roots in the 757.”
“Why should I move?” he said. “I was born and raised in Newport News. That’s my home. I lived other places around the world, other countries. But Newport News, Virginia is my home. Has always been my home. And I don’t think I should have to take that little boy and go anywhere.”
Some organizations have even offered Taylor money to move somewhere else — and he’s always quickly rejected the idea.
“Because guess what, just like anybody else who makes a mistake in life, that little boy should be able to have an opportunity to be the best that he can be in an environment that he knows,” he said. “And I’m going to protect that little boy at all costs.”
