Neglect charges dropped against vice principal in shooting incident

by · UPI

May 21 (UPI) -- Criminal charges were dropped Thursday against an elementary school vice principal who had allegedly ignored warnings that a 6-year-old child had a gun before he shot his teacher.

Ebony Parker was assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., when a first-grader shot his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, in 2023. Prosecutors said Zwerner and other staff had warned Parker that they believed the boy had a gun in his backpack, but Parker refused to search him or allow others to do so. Only administrators and security guards were allowed to search students at the time.

Parker was charged with eight counts of felony child neglect, and Zwerner was injured in the shooting.

Judge Rebecca Robinson said she was dropping all eight counts against Parker. Prosecutors had said she was charged with eight counts, one for each of the bullets in the gun the student used.

"The court is of the legal opinion that this is not a crime, not under the common law of Virginia, nor under the code of Virginia, and the court is going to explain its rationale and ruling," Robinson said. "Those matters are dismissed."

"I want to add my ruling today is based upon legal principles only," she added.

Zwerner has already been awarded $10 million in a civil case against Parker.

The boy was not charged in the shooting, but his mother, Deja Taylor, now 28, was sentenced to five years in prison, with three years suspended for felony child neglect.

Zwerner's lawyers released a statement after Thursday's ruling.

"Abby complied with the subpoena requiring her testimony once again, despite the emotional toll of repeatedly reliving this tragedy. From the beginning, our focus has remained on obtaining justice in civil court for the preventable failures that led to Abby being shot," they said. "A Newport News jury has already spoken, returning a $10 million verdict in Abby's favor. Yet even today, the City of Newport News continues to resist accepting responsibility and delivering the justice that verdict represents."

Soon after the shooting, the Newport News Public Schools board fired Superintendent George Parker III.

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