Another School Shooting
- Thread starter Tecumsehsbones
- Start date
I read a story last night about how the parents of some of the kids wanted to be shown footage that was obtained of their kids right after the shooting and 'rescue'. Some of those pictures were shown and I just....
There was this one little girl, literally covered in blood, huge blue eyes staring up at the person wearing the body cam...
How; HOW the hell they let her suffer for so long I don't know. IIRC, it was the little girl who rolled in the blood of her friend and played dead...
One parent got pissed and walked out, despite wanting to view it. The father of this girl said something like, "All those cops with guns and they did nothing".
That is the reality kids will have to face now because after last night, there will be no meeting of the Texas Legislature, unless the Governor okays it, until TWENTY TWENTY-FUCKING-FIVE.
TBH, good on CNN - for once - for doing this. The parents needed this, wanted this, but the public also needs to see the fucking reality of this and not just the images of kids - surviving kids - rushing to get away from the scene.
Hey your Nova Scotia cops did the same a couple years ago when that idiot was running loose .
Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher faces charges over weed use, gun possession
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
By Ben Finley
Published Jun 06, 2023 • 3 minute read
The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia is now facing federal charges that allege she used marijuana while also possessing a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law.
Deja Taylor, 25, is also accused of lying about her marijuana use on a federal background check form when she bought the 9 mm handgun. Her son used it in the shooting that seriously wounded first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner in the city of Newport News.
When Taylor bought the gun last year, federal authorities allege that she denied on the form that she used marijuana when she knew “she was an unlawful user,” court documents stated.
While marijuana use was recently legalized in Virginia, it remains illegal under federal law.
The new charges, filed in federal court Monday, are in addition to the criminal counts Taylor faces on the state level. Those charges allege felony child neglect and reckless storage of a firearm.
A trial for the state case is set for August. Taylor is scheduled to plead guilty to the federal charges on Monday.
She faces up to six years in prison if she is convicted on the state charges. The federal case carries up to 25 years, although her lead attorney said sentencing guidelines call for 18 months to 24 months in prison.
“This is a Shakespearean tragedy,” attorney Gene Rossi of the firm Carlton Fields said in a statement. “A perfect storm that has had horrible consequences.”
The federal case against Taylor comes at a time of growing conflict between the federal government and states where marijuana use is legal. There has also been debate in recent years over the use of limited federal resources to aggressively pursue people who give false information on background check forms.
The race of the people who are prosecuted is another concern, said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the pro-legalization group Marijuana Policy Project.
Federal law generally prohibits people from possessing firearms if they have been convicted of a felony, been committed to a mental institution or are an unlawful user of a controlled substance, among other things.
In fiscal year 2021, 56% of the roughly 7,500 people convicted of breaking that law were Black, O’Keefe said, citing statistics from the United States Sentencing Commission. She did not have a breakdown for convictions related to marijuana or other drug use.
“About 18% of Americans admitted to using cannabis in the last year and about 40% owned guns,” O’Keefe said. “And so there’s an enormous pool of people that are presumably breaking this law every day and face up to 15 years in prison if they were caught.”
Court documents do not detail exactly how federal investigators built their firearms case against Taylor, who is Black. But she came under intense scrutiny after her son used her gun to shoot Zwerner in January.
Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom at Richneck Elementary. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, has had four surgeries and later told NBC she sometimes ” can’t get up out of bed.”
Zwerner is suing the school system for $40 million.
The attorney for Taylor in the state case, James Ellenson, has said Taylor believed her gun was secured on a high closet shelf with a trigger lock before the shooting occurred. He said last month that it’s still unclear how the boy got the gun.
“People have talked to him about that, but I don’t know that any adult knows exactly how he got the gun,” Ellenson told ABC’s “Good Morning America” May 10.
Ellenson, who is working with Rossi on the federal case, said in a statement that they intend to present mitigating evidence when Taylor is sentenced later this year. He did not elaborate.
Ellenson said the shooting “was a tragedy for all parties, most especially teacher Abby Zwerner for whom we wish a complete recovery.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
By Ben Finley
Published Jun 06, 2023 • 3 minute read
The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia is now facing federal charges that allege she used marijuana while also possessing a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law.
Deja Taylor, 25, is also accused of lying about her marijuana use on a federal background check form when she bought the 9 mm handgun. Her son used it in the shooting that seriously wounded first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner in the city of Newport News.
When Taylor bought the gun last year, federal authorities allege that she denied on the form that she used marijuana when she knew “she was an unlawful user,” court documents stated.
While marijuana use was recently legalized in Virginia, it remains illegal under federal law.
The new charges, filed in federal court Monday, are in addition to the criminal counts Taylor faces on the state level. Those charges allege felony child neglect and reckless storage of a firearm.
A trial for the state case is set for August. Taylor is scheduled to plead guilty to the federal charges on Monday.
She faces up to six years in prison if she is convicted on the state charges. The federal case carries up to 25 years, although her lead attorney said sentencing guidelines call for 18 months to 24 months in prison.
“This is a Shakespearean tragedy,” attorney Gene Rossi of the firm Carlton Fields said in a statement. “A perfect storm that has had horrible consequences.”
The federal case against Taylor comes at a time of growing conflict between the federal government and states where marijuana use is legal. There has also been debate in recent years over the use of limited federal resources to aggressively pursue people who give false information on background check forms.
The race of the people who are prosecuted is another concern, said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the pro-legalization group Marijuana Policy Project.
Federal law generally prohibits people from possessing firearms if they have been convicted of a felony, been committed to a mental institution or are an unlawful user of a controlled substance, among other things.
In fiscal year 2021, 56% of the roughly 7,500 people convicted of breaking that law were Black, O’Keefe said, citing statistics from the United States Sentencing Commission. She did not have a breakdown for convictions related to marijuana or other drug use.
“About 18% of Americans admitted to using cannabis in the last year and about 40% owned guns,” O’Keefe said. “And so there’s an enormous pool of people that are presumably breaking this law every day and face up to 15 years in prison if they were caught.”
Court documents do not detail exactly how federal investigators built their firearms case against Taylor, who is Black. But she came under intense scrutiny after her son used her gun to shoot Zwerner in January.
Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom at Richneck Elementary. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, has had four surgeries and later told NBC she sometimes ” can’t get up out of bed.”
Zwerner is suing the school system for $40 million.
The attorney for Taylor in the state case, James Ellenson, has said Taylor believed her gun was secured on a high closet shelf with a trigger lock before the shooting occurred. He said last month that it’s still unclear how the boy got the gun.
“People have talked to him about that, but I don’t know that any adult knows exactly how he got the gun,” Ellenson told ABC’s “Good Morning America” May 10.
Ellenson, who is working with Rossi on the federal case, said in a statement that they intend to present mitigating evidence when Taylor is sentenced later this year. He did not elaborate.
Ellenson said the shooting “was a tragedy for all parties, most especially teacher Abby Zwerner for whom we wish a complete recovery.”
Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher faces charges over weed use, gun possession
Mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia is now facing charges that allege she used marijuana while also possessing a gun
Like all fine, patriotic young Americans, from his loving parents!
It's the American Way!
Incredible! Will they be charged for not securing it properly? I would hope so!
Most states, Virginia included, have no gun storage laws. Ergo no charges.
Cuz we gots FREEDUMB, unlike you Commie Soshulists up there in the People's Republic of Canada.
well you best smuggle yer guns on up here then if ya wants ta feel that much safer (depending on which laws yer willin ta break)
Mom pleads guilty to felony child neglect after 6-year-old son used her gun to shoot teacher
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ben Finley
Published Aug 15, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia pleaded guilty Tuesday 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.
Prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor charge of reckless storage of a firearm against Deja Taylor. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors said they will not seek a sentence that is longer than state sentencing guidelines, which call for six months in jail or prison.
The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison. A judge will have full discretion when he ultimately decides the length of Taylor’s sentence. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 27.
The January shooting shocked the nation and roiled this shipbuilding city near the Chesapeake Bay. 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 for failing to respond aggressively to multiple warnings the child had brought a gun to school that day.
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.
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, but it had been unclear exactly how the 6-year-old got the gun.
During Taylor’s plea hearing Tuesday, prosecutor Joshua Jenkins said the boy told authorities he got the gun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the gun was stored in his mother’s purse. Those details were contained in a “stipulation of facts,” a list of facts that both sides agree are true.
When police arrived at the school that day, they entered the classroom and saw the boy being restrained by the reading specialist, according to the stipulation of facts document Jenkins read aloud in court.
The boy used a profanity and said “I shot my teacher,” before breaking free and punching the reading specialist in the face, the document states.
The gun was on the floor nearby. “My mom had that. ….I stole it because I needed to shoot my teacher,” the boy said, according to the document.
The document said the boy had been diagnosed with a defiance disorder. He had previously taken his mother’s car keys from her purse, which prompted her to put her keys in a lock box. But she continued to keep her gun in her purse, the document states.
The stipulation of facts also cited a report from Child Protective Services, which indicated the child had played with a gun at his grandmother’s house last year.
“When interviewed in reference to that incident, (the boy) reported that he ’wanted to visit a gun range,”’ according to the stipulation of facts.
After the shooting at Richneck Elementary School, Taylor told police she believed her gun was in her purse, secured with a trigger lock, according to search warrants. She said she kept the gunlock key under her bedroom mattress. But agents with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they never found a trigger lock after conducting searches, according to federal court documents. The stipulation of facts also said there was no gun safe or trigger lock found during searches by authorities.
Dressed in a jean jacket and resting her left hand against her hip, Taylor did not speak during the plea hearing except to answer questions from the judge about whether she understood the proceeding. She spoke softly and was asked by the judge to raise her voice.
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 charged in April by prosecutors in Newport News with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing of a firearm.
Taylor’s attorney, James Ellenson, said at the time that there were “mitigating circumstances,” including her miscarriages and postpartum depression before the shooting. Ellenson said Tuesday he will address depression and anxiety issues at Taylor’s sentencing hearing.
Taylor told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in May that she feels responsible and apologized to Zwerner.
“That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said.
Her son has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and was under a care plan that included a family member accompanying him to class every day, Ellenson said.
The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him. The change was made because the boy had started medication and was meeting his goals academically, Taylor said.
“I just truly would like to apologize,” Taylor said on the show.
Virginia’s law on felony child neglect says any parent, guardian or other person responsible for the care of a child “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.
Ellenson said in court Tuesday that the boy is now in the care of his great-grandfather.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ben Finley
Published Aug 15, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia pleaded guilty Tuesday 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.
Prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor charge of reckless storage of a firearm against Deja Taylor. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors said they will not seek a sentence that is longer than state sentencing guidelines, which call for six months in jail or prison.
The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison. A judge will have full discretion when he ultimately decides the length of Taylor’s sentence. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 27.
The January shooting shocked the nation and roiled this shipbuilding city near the Chesapeake Bay. 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 for failing to respond aggressively to multiple warnings the child had brought a gun to school that day.
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.
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, but it had been unclear exactly how the 6-year-old got the gun.
During Taylor’s plea hearing Tuesday, prosecutor Joshua Jenkins said the boy told authorities he got the gun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the gun was stored in his mother’s purse. Those details were contained in a “stipulation of facts,” a list of facts that both sides agree are true.
When police arrived at the school that day, they entered the classroom and saw the boy being restrained by the reading specialist, according to the stipulation of facts document Jenkins read aloud in court.
The boy used a profanity and said “I shot my teacher,” before breaking free and punching the reading specialist in the face, the document states.
The gun was on the floor nearby. “My mom had that. ….I stole it because I needed to shoot my teacher,” the boy said, according to the document.
The document said the boy had been diagnosed with a defiance disorder. He had previously taken his mother’s car keys from her purse, which prompted her to put her keys in a lock box. But she continued to keep her gun in her purse, the document states.
The stipulation of facts also cited a report from Child Protective Services, which indicated the child had played with a gun at his grandmother’s house last year.
“When interviewed in reference to that incident, (the boy) reported that he ’wanted to visit a gun range,”’ according to the stipulation of facts.
After the shooting at Richneck Elementary School, Taylor told police she believed her gun was in her purse, secured with a trigger lock, according to search warrants. She said she kept the gunlock key under her bedroom mattress. But agents with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they never found a trigger lock after conducting searches, according to federal court documents. The stipulation of facts also said there was no gun safe or trigger lock found during searches by authorities.
Dressed in a jean jacket and resting her left hand against her hip, Taylor did not speak during the plea hearing except to answer questions from the judge about whether she understood the proceeding. She spoke softly and was asked by the judge to raise her voice.
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 charged in April by prosecutors in Newport News with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing of a firearm.
Taylor’s attorney, James Ellenson, said at the time that there were “mitigating circumstances,” including her miscarriages and postpartum depression before the shooting. Ellenson said Tuesday he will address depression and anxiety issues at Taylor’s sentencing hearing.
Taylor told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in May that she feels responsible and apologized to Zwerner.
“That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said.
Her son has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and was under a care plan that included a family member accompanying him to class every day, Ellenson said.
The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him. The change was made because the boy had started medication and was meeting his goals academically, Taylor said.
“I just truly would like to apologize,” Taylor said on the show.
Virginia’s law on felony child neglect says any parent, guardian or other person responsible for the care of a child “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.
Ellenson said in court Tuesday that the boy is now in the care of his great-grandfather.
Mom pleads guilty to felony child neglect after 6-year-old son used her gun to shoot teacher
The mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in a Virginia classroom is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to charges related to the attack
Virginia teacher shot by 6-year-old can proceed with $40 million lawsuit, judge rules
Author of the article:
Associated Press
Associated Press
Ben Finley
Published Nov 03, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student in Virginia can press forward with her $40 million against a school system over claims of negligence by school administrators, a judge ruled Friday.
The surprise decision by Newport News Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hoffman means that Abby Zwerner could get much more than just workers compensation for the serious injuries caused by January’s classroom shooting.
Lawyers for Newport News Public Schools had tried to block the lawsuit, arguing that Zwerner was eligible only for workers compensation. It provides up to nearly 10 years pay and lifetime medical care for injuries.
Hoffman disagreed with the school board, concluding that Zwerner’s injuries “did not arise out of her employment” and therefore did not “fall within the exclusive provisions of workers’ compensation coverage.”
The judge wrote: “The danger of being shot by a student is not one that is peculiar or unique to the job of a first-grade teacher.”
The former first-grade teacher was hospitalized for nearly two weeks and endured multiple surgeries after a bullet struck her hand and chest. Zwerner alleges that administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun that day and had routinely dismissed ongoing concerns about his troubling behavior.
“This victory is an important stepping stone on our path towards justice for Abby,” Zwerner’s attorneys, Diane Toscano, Jeffrey Breit and Kevin Biniazan, said in a statement.
“We are eager to continue our pursuit of accountability and a just, fair recovery,” they said. “No teacher expects to stare down the barrel of a gun held by a six-year-old student.”
Some legal experts expected Zwerner’s lawsuit to fail under Virginia’s uncommonly strict workers compensation law. That’s because it covers workplace assaults and allegations of negligence against employers. Lawsuits that might move forward in other states often falter in the Commonwealth.
A tentative trial date for Zwerner’s lawsuit is scheduled for January 2025.
The classroom shooting by a first-grader revived a national dialogue about gun violence and roiled this military shipbuilding cit y near the Chesapeake Bay.
In early January, the 6-year-old pulled out his mother’s handgun and shot Zwerner as she sat at a reading table. She rushed the rest her students into the hallway before collapsing in the school’s office.
Zwerner sued in April, alleging school officials ignored multiple warnings that the boy had a gun and was in a violent mood.
Police have said the shooting was intentional. Zwerner claims school officials knew the boy “had a history of random violence” at school and home, including when he “choked” his kindergarten teacher.
The school board filed motions to block the litigation, arguing that workplace assaults and allegations of negligence fall under Virginia’s workers compensation law.
Zwerner’s attorneys countered that workers’ compensation doesn’t apply because a first-grade teacher would never anticipate getting shot: “It was not an actual risk of her job.”
“Her job involved teaching six-year-old children, not exposing herself to criminal assault whenever she went to work,” Zwerner’s lawyers wrote in a brief to the court.
J. H. Verkerke, a University of Virginia law professor, previously told The Associated Press that Zwerner’s attorneys faced an uphill battle under the state’s strict workers compensation law. He said they needed to prove the shooting was unrelated to Zwerner’s job, even though she was shot in her classroom.
Their challenge was “to somehow make out that it’s personal,” Verkerke said.
Zwerner’s attorneys argued the boy’s “violence was random and aimed at everyone, both in and out of school.”
He “asserted that he was angry that people were ‘picking on’ his friend, a motivation that had nothing to do with (Zwerner),” her lawyers wrote without further elaboration. “His motivation was a personal one.”
The school board disagreed, writing that the shooting cannot be personal because 6-year-olds lack the capacity to form intent according to Virginia law.
The lawyers also questioned how the shooting could be anything but work-related.
“Everything about this incident arises from (Zwerner’s) employment as a teacher,” the school board argues. “There is no allegation — nor could any such allegation be credibly made — that (Zwerner) had any personal relationship with (the student).”
Workers’ compensation laws were deemed a grand bargain in the 20th century between injured workers and employers, Verkerke said. Workers lost the ability to sue in most cases, protecting employers from enormous payouts. But people who were injured gained much easier access to compensation — lost pay and medical coverage _ without having to prove fault.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:
Associated Press
Associated Press
Ben Finley
Published Nov 03, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student in Virginia can press forward with her $40 million against a school system over claims of negligence by school administrators, a judge ruled Friday.
The surprise decision by Newport News Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hoffman means that Abby Zwerner could get much more than just workers compensation for the serious injuries caused by January’s classroom shooting.
Lawyers for Newport News Public Schools had tried to block the lawsuit, arguing that Zwerner was eligible only for workers compensation. It provides up to nearly 10 years pay and lifetime medical care for injuries.
Hoffman disagreed with the school board, concluding that Zwerner’s injuries “did not arise out of her employment” and therefore did not “fall within the exclusive provisions of workers’ compensation coverage.”
The judge wrote: “The danger of being shot by a student is not one that is peculiar or unique to the job of a first-grade teacher.”
The former first-grade teacher was hospitalized for nearly two weeks and endured multiple surgeries after a bullet struck her hand and chest. Zwerner alleges that administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun that day and had routinely dismissed ongoing concerns about his troubling behavior.
“This victory is an important stepping stone on our path towards justice for Abby,” Zwerner’s attorneys, Diane Toscano, Jeffrey Breit and Kevin Biniazan, said in a statement.
“We are eager to continue our pursuit of accountability and a just, fair recovery,” they said. “No teacher expects to stare down the barrel of a gun held by a six-year-old student.”
Some legal experts expected Zwerner’s lawsuit to fail under Virginia’s uncommonly strict workers compensation law. That’s because it covers workplace assaults and allegations of negligence against employers. Lawsuits that might move forward in other states often falter in the Commonwealth.
A tentative trial date for Zwerner’s lawsuit is scheduled for January 2025.
The classroom shooting by a first-grader revived a national dialogue about gun violence and roiled this military shipbuilding cit y near the Chesapeake Bay.
In early January, the 6-year-old pulled out his mother’s handgun and shot Zwerner as she sat at a reading table. She rushed the rest her students into the hallway before collapsing in the school’s office.
Zwerner sued in April, alleging school officials ignored multiple warnings that the boy had a gun and was in a violent mood.
Police have said the shooting was intentional. Zwerner claims school officials knew the boy “had a history of random violence” at school and home, including when he “choked” his kindergarten teacher.
The school board filed motions to block the litigation, arguing that workplace assaults and allegations of negligence fall under Virginia’s workers compensation law.
Zwerner’s attorneys countered that workers’ compensation doesn’t apply because a first-grade teacher would never anticipate getting shot: “It was not an actual risk of her job.”
“Her job involved teaching six-year-old children, not exposing herself to criminal assault whenever she went to work,” Zwerner’s lawyers wrote in a brief to the court.
J. H. Verkerke, a University of Virginia law professor, previously told The Associated Press that Zwerner’s attorneys faced an uphill battle under the state’s strict workers compensation law. He said they needed to prove the shooting was unrelated to Zwerner’s job, even though she was shot in her classroom.
Their challenge was “to somehow make out that it’s personal,” Verkerke said.
Zwerner’s attorneys argued the boy’s “violence was random and aimed at everyone, both in and out of school.”
He “asserted that he was angry that people were ‘picking on’ his friend, a motivation that had nothing to do with (Zwerner),” her lawyers wrote without further elaboration. “His motivation was a personal one.”
The school board disagreed, writing that the shooting cannot be personal because 6-year-olds lack the capacity to form intent according to Virginia law.
The lawyers also questioned how the shooting could be anything but work-related.
“Everything about this incident arises from (Zwerner’s) employment as a teacher,” the school board argues. “There is no allegation — nor could any such allegation be credibly made — that (Zwerner) had any personal relationship with (the student).”
Workers’ compensation laws were deemed a grand bargain in the 20th century between injured workers and employers, Verkerke said. Workers lost the ability to sue in most cases, protecting employers from enormous payouts. But people who were injured gained much easier access to compensation — lost pay and medical coverage _ without having to prove fault.
Virginia teacher shot by 6-year-old can proceed with $40 million lawsuit, judge rules
A teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student in Virginia can press forward with her $40 million against a school system
Mom of boy who shot Virginia teacher gets 21-month sentence on gun charges
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Jim Morrison and Justin Jouvenal
Published Nov 16, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 5 minute read
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.
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.
Abby Zwerner
Abby Zwerner, a teacher shot by her 6-year-old student, attends a hearing for a civil lawsuit she filed against the Newport News Public Schools, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023 in Newport News, Va. Zwerner can proceed with her $40 million lawsuit against Newport News Public Schools, a judge ruled Friday, Nov. 3. The school system had argued that Zwerner’s injuries fell under Virginia’s workers compensation law. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)
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.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Jim Morrison and Justin Jouvenal
Published Nov 16, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 5 minute read
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.
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.
Abby Zwerner
Abby Zwerner, a teacher shot by her 6-year-old student, attends a hearing for a civil lawsuit she filed against the Newport News Public Schools, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023 in Newport News, Va. Zwerner can proceed with her $40 million lawsuit against Newport News Public Schools, a judge ruled Friday, Nov. 3. The school system had argued that Zwerner’s injuries fell under Virginia’s workers compensation law. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)
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.
Mom of boy who shot Virginia teacher gets 21-month sentence on gun charges
"I feel as if I have lost my purpose," Zwerner said, standing at a courtroom lectern.
Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher in Virginia gets 2 years in prison for child neglect
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ben Finley And Denise Lavoie
Published Dec 15, 2023 • 4 minute read
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for felony child neglect by a judge who chastised her for abdicating her responsibilities as a parent.
The sentence given to Deja Taylor by Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile was much harsher than the maximum six-month sentence prosecutors agreed to recommend as part of a plea deal and also surpassed the high end of advisory state sentencing guidelines.
Taylor, 26, pleaded guilty to a single count of felony neglect in August. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing a firearm.
Papile said the sentencing guidelines did not take into account the psychological and emotional impact the shooting had on first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner or other students and staff at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.
Zwerner was critically injured when the boy fired a single shot at her, striking her hand and chest, breaking bones and puncturing a lung. She spent weeks in the hospital, has had five surgeries, and has said she is so psychologically scarred by the shooting that she does not plan to return to teaching.
“We are lucky that it was not somebody killed at Richneck Elementary,” Judge Papile said.
The state sentence handed down Friday was the second time Taylor was held to account for the classroom shooting in January, which stunned the nation and shook the military shipbuilding city of Newport News.
Taylor was sentenced in November to 21 months in federal prison for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. Her state sentence will be served consecutively, making a combined state and federal sentence of nearly four years behind bars.
Taylor’s son told authorities he got his mother’s 9mm handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom’s purse. He concealed the weapon in his backpack and then his pocket before shooting Zwerner in front of her first-grade class.
Taylor initially told investigators she had secured her gun with a trigger lock, but investigators said they never found one.
Prosecutor Travis White said the boy, now 7, had problems with “basic socialization” and suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and insomnia, among other disorders.
“That is the depths of neglect that Deja Taylor inflicted on her child,” White said. He called the shooting “a consequence and manifestation of that neglect.”
After the shooting, the boy spent 227 days in inpatient treatment, during which he was attended to by a team of physicians, psychiatrists and other clinicians, White said.
The boy now lives with his great-grandfather, Calvin Taylor, who told reporters after the hearing that he believes the sentence handed down by Papile is “excessive.” He said Deja Taylor tried to get help for her son before the shooting but child protective services did not follow through on her request.
Taylor did not speak during Friday’s hearing. Her attorney, James Ellenson, said Taylor struggled with addiction and domestic violence. He said Taylor, 26, smoked marijuana “all day, every day” since age 15.
“Who knows what the effects were on that teenage brain?” he said.
Ellenson said earlier this year there were ” mitigating circumstances,” including Taylor’s miscarriages and postpartum depression. She also has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a condition sharing symptoms with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to court documents.
Taylor told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in May that she feels responsible and apologized to Zwerner.
“That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said.
During her sentencing in federal court last month, one of Taylor’s attorneys read aloud a brief statement in which Taylor said she would feel remorse “for the rest of my life.”
After the shooting, the boy told a reading specialist who restrained him, “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I got my mom’s gun last night,” according to search warrants.
Zwerner is suing Newport News Public Schools for $40 million, alleging administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun at school the day of the shooting.
During the sentencing hearing Friday, Zwerner recalled the shooting, telling the judge: “I was not sure whether it would be my final moment on earth.”
She said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, and has difficulty sleeping.
“The shooting has instilled many fears in me that will remain forever,” she said.
She said she will not return to teaching because she’s now afraid to work with children.
“Now, at 26 years old, what am I supposed to do?” she said.
She added, “My life will never be close to the same again.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ben Finley And Denise Lavoie
Published Dec 15, 2023 • 4 minute read
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for felony child neglect by a judge who chastised her for abdicating her responsibilities as a parent.
The sentence given to Deja Taylor by Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile was much harsher than the maximum six-month sentence prosecutors agreed to recommend as part of a plea deal and also surpassed the high end of advisory state sentencing guidelines.
Taylor, 26, pleaded guilty to a single count of felony neglect in August. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing a firearm.
Papile said the sentencing guidelines did not take into account the psychological and emotional impact the shooting had on first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner or other students and staff at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.
Zwerner was critically injured when the boy fired a single shot at her, striking her hand and chest, breaking bones and puncturing a lung. She spent weeks in the hospital, has had five surgeries, and has said she is so psychologically scarred by the shooting that she does not plan to return to teaching.
“We are lucky that it was not somebody killed at Richneck Elementary,” Judge Papile said.
The state sentence handed down Friday was the second time Taylor was held to account for the classroom shooting in January, which stunned the nation and shook the military shipbuilding city of Newport News.
Taylor was sentenced in November to 21 months in federal prison for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. Her state sentence will be served consecutively, making a combined state and federal sentence of nearly four years behind bars.
Taylor’s son told authorities he got his mother’s 9mm handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom’s purse. He concealed the weapon in his backpack and then his pocket before shooting Zwerner in front of her first-grade class.
Taylor initially told investigators she had secured her gun with a trigger lock, but investigators said they never found one.
Prosecutor Travis White said the boy, now 7, had problems with “basic socialization” and suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and insomnia, among other disorders.
“That is the depths of neglect that Deja Taylor inflicted on her child,” White said. He called the shooting “a consequence and manifestation of that neglect.”
After the shooting, the boy spent 227 days in inpatient treatment, during which he was attended to by a team of physicians, psychiatrists and other clinicians, White said.
The boy now lives with his great-grandfather, Calvin Taylor, who told reporters after the hearing that he believes the sentence handed down by Papile is “excessive.” He said Deja Taylor tried to get help for her son before the shooting but child protective services did not follow through on her request.
Taylor did not speak during Friday’s hearing. Her attorney, James Ellenson, said Taylor struggled with addiction and domestic violence. He said Taylor, 26, smoked marijuana “all day, every day” since age 15.
“Who knows what the effects were on that teenage brain?” he said.
Ellenson said earlier this year there were ” mitigating circumstances,” including Taylor’s miscarriages and postpartum depression. She also has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a condition sharing symptoms with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to court documents.
Taylor told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in May that she feels responsible and apologized to Zwerner.
“That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said.
During her sentencing in federal court last month, one of Taylor’s attorneys read aloud a brief statement in which Taylor said she would feel remorse “for the rest of my life.”
After the shooting, the boy told a reading specialist who restrained him, “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I got my mom’s gun last night,” according to search warrants.
Zwerner is suing Newport News Public Schools for $40 million, alleging administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun at school the day of the shooting.
During the sentencing hearing Friday, Zwerner recalled the shooting, telling the judge: “I was not sure whether it would be my final moment on earth.”
She said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, and has difficulty sleeping.
“The shooting has instilled many fears in me that will remain forever,” she said.
She said she will not return to teaching because she’s now afraid to work with children.
“Now, at 26 years old, what am I supposed to do?” she said.
She added, “My life will never be close to the same again.”
Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher in Virginia gets 2 years in prison for child neglect
The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for felony child neglect.