A 6-year-old shot his teacher in class. Now the school’s former assistant principal goes on trial

By Eric Levenson, Cindy Von Quednow, CNN

(CNN) — More than three years after a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher in class, a former Virginia elementary school official accused of ignoring warnings is set to stand trial on felony child abuse charges Monday.

Ebony Parker was the assistant principal at Richneck Elementary in Newport News in January 2023 when the boy brought a gun to school and shot first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner in the chest and hand. The teacher survived.

The boy had taken the unsecured gun from his mother’s purse and brought it to school in his backpack, officials have said.

Parker was charged in 2024 with eight counts of felony child abuse and disregard for life – one for each bullet in the gun the student used. Prosecutors allege she 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 court documents.

She has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Each count is considered a class 6 felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The trial is expected to last about three days.

An attorney for Parker did not respond to a request for comment.

Parker’s criminal trial is one of a number of cases in recent years that have tested the limits of who is responsible when a juvenile carries out a school shooting. Parents in Michigan and Georgia have been convicted of serious charges, but Parker appears to be the first educator to face trial in such circumstances.

In November, a civil jury awarded Zwerner $10 million in a lawsuit alleging Parker failed to act on concerns that the student had brought a gun to school. Parker has filed an appeal.

Notably, Zwerner testified in the trial about the moment of the shooting and its impact on her life. Parker did not testify in her own defense.

While civil and criminal trials are different, the civil case offered a preview of some of the arguments and testimony likely to come up in the criminal case.

The boy’s mother, Deja Taylor, pleaded guilty to a state charge of felony child neglect and was sentenced to two years in prison in 2023, as well as a 21-month sentence on related federal charges. She was released from state custody to community supervision on May 13, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections.

Prosecutors have said the boy, who has “extreme emotional issues,” will not be criminally charged.

The shooting and aftermath

Zwerner was sitting at a table in her classroom on January 6, 2023, when the 6-year-old boy shot her.

In the aftermath, several school officials lost their jobs: Parker resigned two weeks after the shooting, the principal was reassigned and the school board voted out the superintendent.

After leaving the hospital, Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit against Parker, alleging the former assistant principal was informed at least three times that the boy had a gun and she failed to act.

Zwerner’s physical and psychological injuries were a key part of the civil trial. She said she can’t shake the boy’s “blank look” as he aimed at her, and she said she thought in the moment she was going to die.

“I thought I was on my way to heaven or in heaven,” she said.

Zwerner said she suffered a hand injury that makes it difficult to open a bottle of water and said she now feels numb around people. A psychiatrist testified that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the shooting.

At the civil trial, plaintiffs argued Parker failed to properly investigate the reports of the gun.

“A gun changes everything. You stop and you investigate. You get to the bottom of it,” Zwerner’s attorney Kevin Biniazan said. “You get to the bottom of that backpack. You get to the bottom of his pockets, whatever it is. You get to the bottom of it to know whether that gun is real and on campus.”

Parker’s attorneys, in contrast, argued the shooting was not foreseeable.

“It was a tragedy that, until that day, was unprecedented. It was unthinkable and it was unforeseeable, and I ask that you please not compound that tragedy by blaming Dr. Parker for it,” attorney Sandra Douglas told jurors.

The defense called just one witness – an expert in education administration and school safety who testified Parker did not breach professional standards or act with indifference. The expert, Amy Klinger, said the assistant principal’s role is collaborative and school safety is a shared responsibility among all staff.

“No one is the sole person responsible for school safety,” she said.

Still, civil and criminal trials have some key differences. In civil trials, the jury can decide on a verdict based on a “preponderance” of the evidence, while in criminal trials, the prosecutors must prove their case “beyond a reasonable doubt,” a higher bar.

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