The mother of a six-year-old child who shot his teacher in a school in the US State of Virginia has been sentenced to two years of imprisonment for felony child neglect, nearly a year after the incident that shocked American citizens. The incident took place earlier this year when her son used her 9mm handgun and shot his teacher Abby Zwerner in front of her first-grade class.
Deja Taylor was previously sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal as per US law. The state sentence she received on Friday from Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile was stiffer than what is called for in state sentencing guidelines and harsher than a joint sentencing recommendation of six months prosecutors and Taylor's lawyers had agreed to in a plea deal.
The combination of her state and federal sentences amounts to a total punishment of nearly four years behind bars for Taylor. Earlier this year, Taylor had pleaded guilty to the felony neglect charge and local prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanour count of recklessly storing a firearm. She also pleaded guilty to the marijuana charge as investigators found an ounce in her bedroom after the shooting.
James Ellenson, one of Taylor's attorneys, said earlier this year there were “ mitigating circumstances ” surrounding the situation, including Taylor's miscarriages and postpartum depression, along with her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder. The mother of the six-year-old shooter took responsibility for the incident in May and apologised to Zwerner.
“That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can't take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said. Her lawyer said that she would feel remorse for "the rest of her life".
How did the incident happen?
Taylor's son, who gained access to the firearm by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, shot Zwerner in the left hand and her upper left chest, breaking bones and puncturing a lung. The teacher rushed her other students out in the hallway before collapsing.
The six-year-old told a reading specialist who restrained him, “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I got my mom's gun last night,” according to search warrants. Zwerner told the judge during Taylor's federal sentencing that she remembers losing consciousness while medics worked on her.
Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has endured five surgeries to restore motion to her left hand, which has caused struggles for daily activities like putting on clothes and shoes. She is suing Newport News Public Schools for $40 million, alleging administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun.
The teacher has also stopped teaching, admitting that she is scared to work with children after the incident. She has been seeking therapy and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, while suffering from depression and anxiety. “I contend daily with deep emotional scars,” Zwerner said.
The news stunned Newport News, a city of about 185,000 people in southeastern Virginia known for its shipyard, which builds the nation's aircraft carriers and other US Navy vessels.
Richneck has about 550 students who are in kindergarten through fifth grade, according to the Virginia Department of Education's website. “Today our students got a lesson in gun violence,” said George Parker III, Newport News schools superintendent during the incident, “and what guns can do to disrupt, not only an educational environment but also a family, a community.”
(with inputs from AP)
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