The mother of the Virginia first-grader who allegedly shot his teacher in January pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of child neglect.
Deja Taylor was initially indicted by a grand jury in April after her six-year-old son shot teacher Abigail Zwerner in the hand and chest in a classroom full of students at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News in January, The Associated Press reported.
As part of her plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop the misdemeanor charge against Taylor charging her with reckless storage of a firearm. Prosecutors also agreed to refrain from pursuing a prison sentence longer than the six months recommended in state sentencing guidelines. The judge will decide the length of Taylor’s prison sentence at a hearing scheduled for Oct. 27, AP reported.
BREAKING: The mother of a 6-year-old who shot and critically wounded his teacher in Virginia in a classroom full of students in January has pleaded guilty to a charge of felony child neglect. https://t.co/pG9lNQGUNf
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 15, 2023
Zwerner sustained life-threatening injuries in the alleged Jan. 6 incident, but managed to get the rest of her class to safety while another teacher, Amy Kovac, entered the room and detained the shooter. Taylor’s son allegedly made statements such as, ‘I shot that bitch dead,’ ‘I did it’ and ‘I got my mom’s gun last night,’ according to recently unsealed police search warrants obtained by WTKR News. (RELATED: Richneck Elementary Teacher Shot By 6-Year-Old Student Suing School District, Lawyer Says)
In the aftermath of the shooting, it was revealed that Taylor’s son suffered from an “acute disability” that required his mother or father accompanying him to class everyday — a care plan they failed to follow the week of the alleged shooting because the boy had started medication and was meeting academic goals, according to AP.
During Taylor’s plea hearing Tuesday, a prosecutor argued that the boy had obtained the weapon allegedly used to injure Zwerner from his mother’s purse. Although the child had previously attempted to steal his mother’s car keys, prompting her to put them in a lock box, Taylor continued to keep the gun in her purse. The six-year-old allegedly climbed on a dresser in order to gain access to the gun in the purse prior to the shooting, AP reported.
Taylor told investigators she believed her gun was secured with a trigger lock, but agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claimed they never found a trigger lock after conducting searches at her home, according to federal court documents cited by AP.