A 6-year-old youngster shot his teacher last year at an elementary school in Virginia, and Ebony Parker, the assistant principal, is now facing eight charges connected to that day. A warrant has been issued.
She is facing a maximum of five years in jail for each charge.
Concerns over possible security breaches at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News and in a school district unsettled by earlier instances of gun violence at other campuses were heightened by the January 6, 2023, shooting of first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner.
According to authorities, Zwerner rescued her panicked kids even after being shot by one of them. Fragments of the bullet that had blasted through Zwerner’s left hand and broken bones wound up in her upper chest. She sued the school district for $40 million three months after the incident, claiming that authorities ignored many warnings from kids and staff about the child’s pistol. Following the lawsuit, Parker decided to step down.
The former assistant principal, Parker, is one of many school personnel named as defendants in the lawsuit brought by Zwerner. The youngster was accused of a history of random acts of violence, including assaults on both pupils and instructors.
After the youngster choked and strangled a teacher during the 2021–2022 school year, he was expelled from kindergarten. He was permitted to return in the autumn of 2022 but with some modifications to his schedule. One of his parents will need to be there while he attends school.
The boy’s teachers repeatedly voiced their worries to the school administration, but their complaints were consistently ignored. Ms. Zwerner is accused in the lawsuit of ignoring and downplaying teacher concerns and failing to respond to the boy’s threats during playtime. The administration’s lack of discipline put everyone in the area at risk, as kids were free to act in an unsafe and disruptive manner without facing any repercussions.
The legal team representing Ms. Zwerner claims the criminal charges against Ms. Parker highlight the district’s inaction. The accusations against Ms. Parker and others found responsible for school shootings, like the Crumbleys, are being seen by some prosecutors as a “new avenue” to try to reduce gun violence in the US, according to John J. Donohue III, a professor at Stanford Law School.
