The criminal trial of former Richneck Elementary School assistant principal Ebony Parker got underway this week in Newport News, Virginia, with prosecutors arguing she ignored a series of warnings that a 6-year-old student had a gun before the child shot first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner in January 2023.
The eight felony child neglect counts Parker faces correspond to the number of bullets loaded in the gun the child carried into Zwerner's classroom; conviction on any single count could bring up to five years behind bars, according to The Associated Press. Court documents describe the alleged offense as conduct "in a manner so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life" — language drawn from the felony child neglect statute under which Parker is charged.
In opening statements, special prosecutor Josh Jenkins told the jury that Parker took no action after multiple school employees reported the child had a gun in his backpack. "Does she say 'search the child'? No," Jenkins said, according to NBC News. "Warning after warning after warning, she did nothing." Jenkins told jurors that the school's security officer had been assigned elsewhere that day, and that the principal had no knowledge of the unfolding danger because Parker never brought it to her attention — leaving Parker as the only person with both the information and the power to intervene.
Defense attorney Curtis Rogers pushed back, arguing that classroom teachers and other staff who had observed the child firsthand were equally positioned to take action — and that none of them did, according to NBC News. Proving that Parker's behavior rose to the level of reckless disregard for human life is the bar the prosecution must clear, Rogers told the jury.
Zwerner was the first witness called. On the stand, Zwerner described the student's demeanor as "violent" and recalled that he spent the entire recess period outside with an oversized jacket on, his hands buried in the pockets the whole time, according to NBC News. The shooting happened when Zwerner was at a reading table with students after recess; the bullet entered her hand and chest, puncturing a lung and coming within a fraction of striking her heart, with one bullet still lodged in her chest today. Her recovery required nearly two weeks of hospitalization and six surgeries, and she has not regained full use of her left hand, according to the AP.
Last November, jurors in a civil case sided with Zwerner and returned a verdict of $10 million against Parker, concluding that she had disregarded multiple alerts about the gun. The superintendent and school principal had been named in the lawsuit as well, but a judge removed both from the case, leaving Parker as the sole defendant.
Deja Taylor, the boy's mother, received a combined sentence of close to four years in prison after pleading guilty to state charges of felony child neglect and federal charges tied to possessing a firearm while using marijuana, according to the AP. Investigators learned the child obtained the weapon by scaling a dresser at home to reach a purse where his mother kept it.
Legal experts have observed that it is uncommon for school officials to face criminal prosecution in connection with a shooting at their school, according to ABC News.