Virginia judge spares ex-assistant principal while dismissing case in student shooting of teacher
by Matt Delaney · The Washington TimesA Virginia judge tossed out the criminal case Thursday against a former assistant principal in connection with a 2023 elementary school shooting in which a 6-year-old took aim at his teacher.
Judge Rebecca Robinson dismissed all eight counts of felony child neglect against Ebony Parker after the then-assistant principal was accused of ignoring multiple warnings about the boy having a gun in his backpack prior to him shooting his first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary in Newport News.
Jurors were instructed to return to court Thursday to begin deliberations, but Judge Robinson said the case was legally insufficient for jurors to produce a verdict.
Teacher Abby Zwerner survived gunshot wounds to the hand and chest in the attack in January 2023, and Ms. Parker resigned during the fallout of the security debacle.
Prosecutors argued Ms. Parker abandoned her duties to treat the boy as a potential threat after two teachers said students reported the boy had a weapon at school. One of the students told a teacher that the boy displayed the firearm at recess before putting it back in his backpack.
Ms. Parker was accused of telling the teachers that those reports didn’t warrant a search of the boy.
Police said the boy shot Ms. Zwerner around 2 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2023. The wounded teacher helped evacuate her students from the class and later passed out in the school office from her injuries, according to court documents.
A jury did award Ms. Zwerner $10 million in damages as part of a civil lawsuit last fall.
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Ms. Zwerner’s attorneys said they are adamant about the court enforcing the verdict in their client’s favor, which is supposed to be paid out by Newport News Public Schools.
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Matt Delaney
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