Newport News, Virginia – A former assistant principal at a Virginia elementary school is scheduled to stand trial on charges that he ignored warnings that a 6-year-old student brought a loaded gun to school that was later used to shoot his first-grade teacher.
Ebony Parker’s criminal trial is scheduled to begin Monday in Newport News, Virginia.
Parker He is charged with eight counts Felony child neglect, one for each of the eight bullets found in the gun brought into the Richnick Elementary School teacher’s classroom. Abby Zwirner in January 2023. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison upon conviction, prosecutors said.
The charges allege that Parker “committed an intentional or negligent act in the care of these students, in a manner so gross, wanton and reprehensible as to demonstrate a reckless disregard for human life,” according to court documents.
Experts say criminal charges against school officials after school shootings are very rare. The shooting sent shockwaves through the military shipbuilding community and the country as a whole, leaving many wondering How could a child so young get a gun And shoot his teacher.
Last November The jury awarded $10 million to Zwirner, who stood by her claims in a lawsuit that Parker, the former assistant principal, ignored repeated warnings that the child had a gun.
Zwirner was shot while sitting at a reading table in her classroom. Share He spent nearly two weeks in the hospitalShe required six surgeries and does not have full use of her left hand. A bullet missed her heart and remained in her chest.
Parker was the sole defendant in the lawsuit. The judge previously dismissed the district supervisor and the school principal as defendants.
The lawsuit said Parker had a duty to protect Zwirner and others from harm after telling him about the gun. Zwirner’s attorneys said Parker failed to act in the hours before the shooting after several school employees told her the student had a gun in his backpack.
Zwirner testified that she first heard about the gun before a class break from a reading specialist who had been tipped off by students. The shooting happened a few hours later. Despite her injuries, Zwirner was able to get her students out of the classroom. I eventually passed out in the school office.
Zwirner is scheduled to testify in the criminal case, according to court records.
The student’s mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison on the charge The crime of child neglect and Federal gun fees. Her son told authorities he climbed to the top of the dresser to retrieve the gun from his mother’s purse.