Mother of 6-year-old who shot Virginia teacher sentenced on child neglect charge

A Virginia mother was sentenced to two years in prison on a charge of felony child neglect after her son shot and wounded his first-grade teacher with an unsecured gun, local media reported on Friday.

Judge Christopher Papile of the 7th Circuit Court of Virginia in Newport News also ordered the mother, 26-year-old Deja Taylor, to have no contact with her son, who is now 7, until he is 18, local media NBC affiliate WAVY reported. She must also serve two years of probation.

James Ellenson, a lawyer for Taylor, said that the boy was under the care of Taylor’s relatives.

Taylor’s two-year sentence was greater than the six months called for in a plea deal that she had struck with prosecutors. She had faced up to five years in prison on the neglect charge.

Calls to the prosecutor to confirm the sentencing and a call to the defense attorney seeking comment were not immediately returned to Reuters.

Taylor’s son shot and seriously wounded his teacher, Abby Zwerner, last January at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.

The mother previously pleaded guilty to gun charges in a separate federal case and was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison in November. As part of the state plea deal, she can serve her state sentence concurrently.

According to police, the boy had taken the 9mm pistol from his mother’s purse, hid it in his backpack and took it out while Zwerner was teaching class, firing a single shot through her hand and into her chest.

Zwerner was hailed as a hero for evacuating students from her classroom.

Zwerner’s lawyer, who filed a $40 million lawsuit against school administrators on her client’s behalf, has said that Richneck Elementary officials had been warned three times the day of the shooting that the boy was armed.

Zwerner has not returned to the classroom, media accounts say. — Reuters