Mother of 6-year-old who shot Newport News teacher pleads guilty to Virginia charge
The mother of a 6-year-old boy who authorities say used her gun to shoot his teacher at a Virginia elementary school in January pleaded guilty Tuesday to a state charge stemming from the shooting, according to her attorney. Deja Taylor pleaded guilty to felony child neglect in a Newport News courtroom.
Taylor, 26, was charged in April with child neglect and recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child, a misdemeanor, but prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor count in a plea agreement.
Her sentencing was scheduled for late October, according to online court records. Prosecutors said they won't seek a sentence greater than what sentencing guidelines call for, which would be six months in jail or prison.
Taylor only spoke during Tuesday's hearing to acknowledge she understood the proceedings, according to The Associated Press.
"She feels very responsible, feels very bad," Taylor's attorney James Ellenson told reporters outside the courthouse.
Ellenson said Taylor was a victim of domestic abuse and had experienced several miscarriages and postpartum depression before the January incident at Richneck Elementary School. He hoped the judge would take that into consideration at sentencing.
The boy is in the custody of his great-grandfather, Ellenson said.
The boy shot teacher Abby Zwerner with a 9 mm handgun in their classroom after recess on Jan. 6, police said in a search warrant for the investigation. Zwerner told investigators the boy pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and pointed it at her. When she asked what he was doing, he fired one shot.
Zwerner was hit in the left hand and upper torso, police said in the search warrant. When she and several children fled the classroom, reading specialist Amy Kovac went inside, saw the boy and the gun nearby on the floor and held the boy in place until police arrived.
Kovac told police the boy said, "I shot that b**** dead" while he was being restrained. He also said, "I got my mom's gun last night," according to Kovac.
Taylor told police that she normally stored the gun in her purse with a trigger lock in place or in a lock box, according to the search warrant.
On the morning of the shooting, Taylor thought the gun was in her purse on top of her dresser in her bedroom, police said. She said she kept the key for the trigger lock under her mattress.
In a federal case stemming from the shooting, investigators said they couldn't find a trigger lock or a lock box during searches of Taylor's home or her mother's home.
A prosecutor said during Tuesday's hearing that the boy told authorities he climbed onto a dresser drawer to get the gun from Taylor's purse, the AP reported.
Zwerner claimed in a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News school district that officials failed to act on warnings that the boy had a gun on the day of the shooting.
"Our focus remains on justice for Abby and holding the school system accountable," attorney Diane Toscano said in a statement to CBS News.
In June, Taylor pleaded guilty to federal charges of illegally obtaining and possessing a firearm and making a false statement on a government form to buy the firearm. She's scheduled to be sentenced for the federal charges in October.
