VA - 6-YEAR-OLD in custody after shooting teacher, Newport News, Jan 2023 *mom charged* #2

[EmiliaRT007]

Speculation : This child was massively failed by many people in his short life !
Exception was the teacher who did report it, and any other teacher or student who may have brought concerns to the school admin.
Now that the mother has been indicted, wondering what was happening in his home life, away from the school ?
Sometimes children 'act out' what they see, whether it be media content or worse, i.e., real life.
Imo.

I agree with this 100%!

 

[Arkay]

If there were older teens in the house also they could have unlocked it and left it out in the open.

Anything is possible, but I certainly hope this is NOT the case.

If the news is accurate that the mother is now 25, she would have had him at 19, and possibly already pregnant at 18.

If she had older kids that are teens, even saying that the youngest a teen can be is 13, then she would have given birth at 12, and possibly pregnant at 11.

I don’t think that’s the case. If there are older teens in that home then possibly they were step-children, but we haven’t heard anything about that at all.

jmo

 

[mickey2942]

My husband put his guns in the gun safe. If you can afford a gun, you can afford a gun safe. There are small ones, for a handgun.

 

[x_files]

My husband put his guns in the gun safe. If you can afford a gun, you can afford a gun safe. There are small ones, for a handgun.

wise esp with small children around!

 

[EmiliaRT007]

wise esp with small children around!

And even more so kids KNOWN TO HAVE BEHAVIOR ISSUES!!!!

 

[fred&edna]

I brought up this entry in the court records simply to note that someone with this name seems to have been employed, at some point in recent years, by a business called "The Fragrance Outlet." I thought this might be useful information for folks trying to differentiate between the social media accounts/LinkedIn pages for Virginia-based women named Deja Nicole Taylor.

It is useful... thank you!

 

[Simply Southern]

So a dad is present in the child's life so why was only the mother charged? Two adults living at the same residence he should hold some accountability as well. IMHO.

She was the gun owner and responsible under Code of Virginia.

 

[Simply Southern]

What I'm saying is that there will be a settlement with the school, of which most will be paid by their liability insurance leaving them with some additional liability which they will then shift over to the mother, easily if she is convicted of a felony in regards to the incident. It doesn't matter if she can't pay it, all that matters is that the liability for it will be distributed between the insurance and the mother, preserving the school system's (and the city's/county's that the DA also is employed by) bottom line. Again this is just my admittedly cynical guess and personal opinion that I am in no way representing as fact.

The mother was not named in the suit, only the SB, the superintendent, principal and vice principal. No the mother will have no liability in this suit.

AZ may decide to file a separate suit against the mother.

The SB could try and sue the mother, but they were warned three times the child had gun. Not sure they would have "standing".
MOO..

 

[Simply Southern]

I brought up this entry in the court records simply to note that someone with this name seems to have been employed, at some point in recent years, by a business called "The Fragrance Outlet." I thought this might be useful information for folks trying to differentiate between the social media accounts/LinkedIn pages for Virginia-based women named Deja Nicole Taylor.

It was great information. I checked earlier but only Circuit Court, then side tracked.

Today, VA Circuit Courts site has both charges listed. Shows 4/10/23 Direct Indictment...4/11/23 Capias issued. No arrest date.

Case Status and Information | Virginia Court System

 

[Simply Southern]

Updated timeline

Here's a timeline of the Richneck Elementary School shooting and its aftermath

“There were failures in accountability at multiple levels that led to Abby being shot and almost killed," Zwerner's Attorney Diane Toscano said.

www.13newsnow.com

 

[Simply Southern]

Criminal probe focuses on school where boy, 6, shot teacher

The family said in the days after the shooting that the child was placed under hospital care and receiving “the treatment he needs.”

www.nbc12.com

Prosecutors in the Virginia city where a 6-year-old shot his teacher in an elementary school classroom are investigating whether the “actions or omissions” of any school employees could lead to criminal charges, according to court documents released Tuesday.

Howard Gwynn, the commonwealth’s attorney in Newport News, filed a petition for a special grand jury to probe if any “security failures” contributed to the shooting at Richneck Elementary in January that seriously wounded teacher Abby Zwerner.
...
Gwynn’s petition was released a day after his office charged the boy’s mother with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of endangering a child by reckless storage of a firearm. The child used his mother’s 9mm handgun to shoot Zwerner.
...
The prosecutor’s decision to investigate school employees for any criminal activity is the latest fallout from the shooting, which sent shockwaves through Newport News, a shipbuilding city of about 185,000 people near the Chesapeake Bay.

Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew has repeatedly characterized the shooting at Richneck Elementary as “intentional.” He said there was no warning and no struggle before the child fired the gun at Zwerner, striking her in the hand and chest.

 

[MyBelle]

Yes. In my opinion it's likely that the school will sue her for whatever their liability insurance doesn't cover in the eventual settlement.

It would be a waste of time and resources to sue the mother. She'd likely discharge it in bankruptcy.

 

[QB2022]

Even children with emotional and behavioural issues would have had to have picked these ideas up from somewhere. I say this as a parent of a child who certainly has his moments and can hit, shove and bite still at 6. He wouldn't lift a girls' dress to touch her inappropriately because even behaviourally challenging children shouldn't know that this is a thing. It sounds like the child has a huge amount of rage towards women and girls. I wonder if there was extreme DA being witnessed at home and you've got an emotionally damaged child who has witnessed awful things to copy them.

 

[QB2022]

Beth Thomas comes to mind!

 

[x_files]

Even children with emotional and behavioural issues would have had to have picked these ideas up from somewhere. I say this as a parent of a child who certainly has his moments and can hit, shove and bite still at 6. He wouldn't lift a girls' dress to touch her inappropriately because even behaviourally challenging children shouldn't know that this is a thing. It sounds like the child has a huge amount of rage towards women and girls. I wonder if there was extreme DA being witnessed at home and you've got an emotionally damaged child who has witnessed awful things to copy them.

I'm curious how this boy treats his own mother. Does she live in fear of him? and if so what recourse does she have?

 

[QB2022]

I'm curious how this boy treats his own mother. Does she live in fear of him? and if so what recourse does she have?

It would certainly be interesting to know. I can't imagine his behaviour was just reserved for school but I wonder what the home dynamic was. Some parents who are scared of their children don't even realise they are scared, they just do whatever they can do placate them which obviously a school can't do in the same way.

 

[MyBelle]

I'm curious how this boy treats his own mother. Does she live in fear of him? and if so what recourse does she have?

I think it is more likely that the child lived in fear of his mother and that is why he lashed out at the teacher when his mother wasn't around to "control" him.

 

[georgiajean]

To answer questions about other children, DT is mom of one.

Mother of Richneck shooter to turn herself in

"“Deja has cooperated from the first day of the incident,” attorney James Ellenson said, noting that Taylor — a mother of one — has no prior criminal record."
"She faces up to six years behind bars if convicted of the charges."

 

[airportwoman]

Anything is possible, but I certainly hope this is NOT the case.

If the news is accurate that the mother is now 25, she would have had him at 19, and possibly already pregnant at 18.

If she had older kids that are teens, even saying that the youngest a teen can be is 13, then she would have given birth at 12, and possibly pregnant at 11.

I don’t think that’s the case. If there are older teens in that home then possibly they were step-children, but we haven’t heard anything about that at all.

jmo

Or they could be siblings of the parents, cousins, people crashing at the house, etc. Kids from at-risk families often have revolving doors of people living with them.

 

[Erutan]

Or they could be siblings of the parents, cousins, people crashing at the house, etc. Kids from at-risk families often have revolving doors of people living with them.

Bbm.
Exactly.
Which is why I wonder what sort of living conditions this child had ?
Think of how unstable a constant flux of people would be for a child.
Possibly next to no rest at night, exhausted before the school day even began, no one he could trust, angry with teachers who wanted him to pay attention in class and not flip out , etc.
Someone different always coming in and out...
Possibly being harmed himself or seeing people lashing out at each other , if they themselves had substance issues ?

Imo.