Former Assistant Principal Where 6-Year-Old Shot Teacher Indicted - PEOPLE

The former assistant principal of a Virginia elementary school where a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher has been charged with child abuse and neglect, according to several news outlets.

Ebony Parker, who worked as the former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School, was indicted by a grand jury last month on eight felony charges, which carry a maximum of five years in prison for each, according to the unsealed court documents obtained by NBC News, The New York Times and CNN.   

Authorities said Parker committed “a willful act or omission in the care of such students, in a manner so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life,” according to the court documents obtained by CNN.

Parker’s attorneys at Curtis M. Rogers and Associates did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. 

Students and police gather outside of Richneck Elementary School after a shooting, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 in Newport News, Va. Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP

Parker was one of the people named in the $40 million lawsuit brought by Abigail Zwerner — the teacher who had been shot with one round of ammo from a handgun by her student on Jan. 6, 2023 — alongside former Richneck principal Briana Foster Newton, former school superintendent George Parker III and the School Board of Richneck Elementary School.

Zwerner’s attorneys Diane Toscano, Kevin Biniazan and Jeffrey Breit said in a statement to CNN on Parker’s charges: “These charges are very serious and underscore the failure of the school district to act to prevent the tragic shooting of Abby Zwerner.”

“The school board continues to deny their responsibility to Abby, and this indictment is just another brick in the wall of mounting failures and gross negligence in their case,” they added.

A school sign outside Richneck Elementary School on January 7, 2023 in Newport News, Virginia.

Jay Paul/Getty Images

According to Zwerner’s lawsuit filed in April 2023, the vice principal was warned multiple times by different teachers on the day of the shooting that the child involved was behaving violently and reportedly had a gun. 

Zwerner alleged in the lawsuit that a teacher was told by two students that the first grade student had a gun and told Parker she saw the child with an object in his sweatshirt. Another school employee later asked Parker for permission to search the child for the gun, but Parker allegedly stopped them, per the lawsuit.

Zwerner also alleged in the lawsuit she told vice principal Parker that the child was in a "violent mood" and threatening to physically harm another child. Zwerner claimed that Parker breached "her assumed duty" to protect her as a teacher, resulting in her suffering from "physical pain and mental anguish" stemming from the incident.

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The mother of the 6-year-old boy, Deja Taylor, also faced charges in the shooting. She pleaded guilty to felony child neglect in August 2023 for failing to securely store the legally-owned gun her son brought to Richneck Elementary School.

Though the 6-year-old boy was initially taken into custody, authorities have never charged him, citing his age, reports say. Prosecutors said the child told investigators that he grabbed his mother's gun, which was legally purchased in July 2022, from her purse ahead of the attack by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser.

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Former Assistant Principal Where 6-Year-Old Shot Teacher Indicted - PEOPLE
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