Mother pleads guilty to child neglect after six-year-old son shoots teacher
15 August 2023, 16:04
Her son has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and was under a care plan that included a family member accompanying him to class every day.
The mother of a six-year-old who shot his teacher in Virginia has pleaded guilty to 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 the misdemeanour charge of reckless storage of a firearm against Deja Taylor.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors said they will not seek seek a sentence that is longer than state sentencing guidelines, which call for six months in jail or prison.
Taylor was charged in April with felony child neglect and a misdemeanour count of recklessly storing of a firearm.
The case against Taylor is one of three legal efforts seeking accountability, including the teacher’s 40 million dollars lawsuit that accuses the school system of gross negligence.
Police said the first grader intentionally shot teacher Abby Zwerner as she sat at a reading table during a lesson.
Ms 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, which had images of sharks on it. But it remains unclear exactly how the six-year-old got the gun.
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 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they never found a trigger lock after conducting searches, according to federal court documents.
In June, Taylor pleaded guilty in a separate but related federal case to using marijuana while possessing a firearm, which is illegal under US law.
Taylor’s lawyer, James Ellenson, said in April that there were “mitigating circumstances”, including her miscarriages and postpartum depression before the shooting.
Taylor told ABC’s Good Morning America in May that she feels responsible and apologised to Ms 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, Mr 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 apologise,” Taylor said on the show.
