An assistant principal at a Virginia primary school repeatedly dismissed warnings that a six-year-old student had a gun, which was later used to shoot his teacher, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. Ebony Parker is on trial for eight counts of felony child neglect following the January 2023 shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, which left first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner wounded.
Special prosecutor Josh Jenkins told the jury that several school employees had informed Parker they believed the child had a gun in his backpack, but she did not search the child, call the police, or remove him from the classroom. “Warning after warning after warning, she did nothing,” Jenkins said. However, Parker’s attorney, Curtis Rogers, argued that teachers themselves should have acted if they believed a gun was present, and that the prosecution must prove Parker’s actions showed a reckless disregard for human life.
School policy required crisis situations to be reported to an administrator, who was then obliged to act. A school counselor had asked for permission to search the child, but Parker denied the request, stating that only an administrator or security officer could conduct searches. The school’s security officer was absent that day. Jenkins noted that Parker was the only person in the school with both the authority and knowledge to act, but she failed to do so.
Zwerner, the first witness, testified that the student had been in a “violent” mood on the day of the shooting and had worn an oversized jacket with both hands in his pockets during recess. She sent a text message about this to a reading specialist, who had already been alerted by students about the gun and reported it to Parker. After recess, the student continued to wear the jacket in the classroom, where he shot Zwerner at a reading table. She spent nearly two weeks in hospital, underwent six surgeries, and still does not have full use of her left hand; a bullet remains lodged in her chest.
Parker faces up to five years in prison for each of the eight counts, which correspond to the number of bullets in the gun. Criminal charges against school officials after a school shooting are rare. The student’s mother was previously sentenced to nearly four years in prison for felony child neglect and federal weapons charges.
