Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Gun Owner Whose Son Shot His Teacher Will Get Her Day In Court

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by

Robin Beres
in , , , , ,

by Kerry Dougherty

Four words came to mind when news broke yesterday that a Newport News grand jury had indicted the mother of a 6-year-old school shooter: what took so long?

It’s been 13 weeks since a FIRST GRADER brought a handgun to school in his backpack and used it to shoot his teacher in front of his classmates.

It’s been 94 days since the 6-year-old sociopath got his hands on his mother’s gun and took it to school.

During the ensuing three months, prosecutors repeatedly said they weren’t sure the owner of the gun would be charged for the near-murder.

That effectively meant no one would be held criminally responsible for the shooting. It’s widely accepted that a 6-year-old cannot be charged with a crime.

Finally, on April 10, a grand jury indicted the gun owner — the mother of the shooter — and charged her with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing a firearm so a child could gain access to it.

Deja Taylor, 25, faces a maximum of six years incarceration on the charges.

On the other hand, Abigail Zwerner, also 25, faces a lifetime of recovery from her wounds and no one knows the long-term damage done to the room full of innocent 6-year-olds who were exposed to unspeakable violence.

Almost immediately after the shooting, authorities revealed that the shooter’s mother admitted that the gun used in the crime was hers. She insisted she kept it on the top shelf of a closet with a trigger lock.

If that’s true, her son — 6 years old, remember — is some sort of Houdini.

Most likely, there is more to the story. That information seems to have persuaded the grand jury that a crime was committed. The details will become public in court.

In the meantime, Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn has asked the courts to appoint a special grand jury to investigate the actions of Richneck school officials who allegedly ignored warnings that this child — who had serious behavior problems, according to many accounts — had a gun on school property.

About time.

Republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed and Unedited.

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69 responses to “Gun Owner Whose Son Shot His Teacher Will Get Her Day In Court”

  1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    “…exposed to unspeakable violence….”

    Oh please! “Unspeakable violence” in the great US of A is nearly a daily occurrence these days… especially in our schools. Such is the price willing paid by 2A supporters. You made this bed…

    1. Nathan Avatar
      Nathan

      “You made this bed…”

      Why? Because gun control advocates care more about human life and gun safety?

      “We need gun control reform. Now.”
      -Alec Baldwin

      1. VaNavVet Avatar
        VaNavVet

        Gun safety advocates do indeed appear to care more about human life than about guns.

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          As far as I can tell, what “gun safety advocates” want has little to do with actual gun safety.

          1. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            Gun safety advocates want to keep adults and children from being gunned down in school like in Nashville. The GOP response was to expel them. Talk about being tone deaf and with no sense of timing.

          2. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            “Talk about being tone deaf and with no sense of timing.”

            That’s a fitting description of the Democrats when they stormed the capital and got the mugs on TV, making it all about them rather than the victims.

          3. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            There was no storming of the capital but rather going to the well of the state house. Wait for it that was done in a call for gun safety reforms. At least they were willing to talk about the issue and to move beyond thoughts and prayers.

        2. Nathan Avatar
          Nathan

          “Appear” being the operative word in that statement.

          The gun control lobby likes virtue signaling and posturing, but they are nowhere to be found when it comes to actually doing the hands-on work to improve gun safety.

          As a firearms instructor, I have volunteered hundreds of hours (perhaps more) and personally taught gun safety to over 2,000 young people. I am unaware of any meaningful effort by gun control groups to to help in any way whatsoever.

          As this case demonstrates, laws don’t change behavior. Instruction, mentoring and positive role models do.

          1. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            All those factors that you cite are indeed helpful. There is a need to keep guns out of the hands of people that should not have them. That is where “red flag” laws come in and as law enforcement says if you see something say something!

          2. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            You seem to forget that at UVA and Newport News multiple people did exactly that. They saw something, and at the risk of retaliation from the shooter they said something to the appropriate people.

            Nothing happened, and instead of leading the effort to figure out why, gun control advocates just continue to push for more laws.

          3. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            Laws are passed to change behavior. Some work and some don’t. None are perfect.

          4. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            “Laws are passed to change behavior. Some work and some don’t. None are perfect.”

            That doesn’t explain the lack of urgency to fully understand what went wrong and how to fix it.

            I worked at a high level in technology for over twenty years. When an application serving hundreds of thousands of customers malfunctioned, I was required to get it working. I wasn’t tasked with doing “something” followed by “something else.”

            Gun control advocates talk about “more” gun control, as if they are talking about adding more butter or more sugar to a baking recipe.

            Citizens shouldn’t tolerate such a mindless approach.

          5. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            Sorry I don’t see a lack of urgency but rather just the opposite with folks marching in the streets. It would help if the NRA and its advocates would engage in actual discussion about how to “fix it”.

          6. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            The context of my comment was the situation in Virginia with respect to UVA and Newport News.

            Where’s the urgency from the left to understand why a student at UVA stocked up weapons in his dorm and nothing was done, in spite of it being reported well in advance?

            “…folks marching in the streets.”

            And inside the capital disrupting lawmakers.

            Democrats always have an urgency to get themselves on the news proposing things that wouldn’t solve anything other than their need for publicity and getting reelected.

          7. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            And Republicans are never willing to talk about the issue of gun violence lest they upset the NRA thereby hurting their own re-election chances.

          8. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            We talk about murder all the time. It’s up, especially in Chicago.

            The NRA isn’t murdering people in Chicago. Gangs are.

            https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/fullpage/chicago-gang-violence-numbers-17509042

          9. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            Perhaps a national discussion about gang violence is in order and the NRA could participate.

          10. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            We urgently need to do something about gangs, but also suicide. Our new and improved culture is causing our young people to kill themselves.

            Suicide rate highest among teens and young adults

            https://www.uclahealth.org/news/suicide-rate-highest-among-teens-and-young-adults

      2. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Alec Baldwin…

        Now there’s a guy who could benefit from some actual gun safety training.

      3. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Alec Baldwin…

        Now there’s a guy who could benefit from some actual gun safety training.

    2. Tom B Avatar
      Tom B

      No, Eric, 2A supporters do not willingly pay that price. We are unwilling to agree with your unprincipled and irrational solutions.

      1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
        Eric the half a troll

        “Your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights” Samuel Wurzelbacher (aka Joe the Plumber) in an open letter to the parents of the victims murdered by Elliot Rodger in Isla Vista, CA. The price we pay, eh…

        1. Tom B Avatar
          Tom B

          What do you think that proves? And why do you think it?

    3. Charles D'Aulnais Avatar
      Charles D’Aulnais

      Today is the 100th day of 2023. There have been 146 mass shootings in 2023. One in 10 of those shootings this year were in schools.

  2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    So mother charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor for failing to secure her gun. Great. Here is a little known fact… until 2020, she could only have been charged with a simple Class 3 misdemeanor (with no jail time possible) and look who voted against the change… our “tough on crime” AG (and then Virginia Beach delegate) Jason Miyares…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c96005d890a43e71fd7c96a7270f4ba962173d1f21b67db4122819c8521f242.jpg

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Nice cactch.

    2. Nathan Avatar
      Nathan

      I don’t object to the law but it wasn’t necessary. There are many ways a parent can be criminally liable. We don’t necessarily need a separate law for each willful act or omission.

      Any parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the care of a child under the age of 18 whose willful act or omission in the care of such child was so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life is guilty of a Class 6 felony.

      https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title18.2/chapter8/section18.2-371.1/

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        I agree, the coming civil suit will ruin that family and rightfully so. The felony neglect charge is the important one.

        This is learned behavior, especially at 6! Where did this child learn this? At 6, clearly at home. Hard to believe at 6 he was watching “Walking Dead” or playing the most violent video games, but who knows? Our culture is steeped in violence now.

      2. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        I agree, the coming civil suit will ruin that family and rightfully so. The felony neglect charge is the important one.

        This is learned behavior, especially at 6! Where did this child learn this? At 6, clearly at home. Hard to believe at 6 he was watching “Walking Dead” or playing the most violent video games, but who knows? Our culture is steeped in violence now. We started “Walking Dead” recently, and thinking like the cultural anthropologists I read fifty years ago, it’s pretty easy to see why human life is so cheap to so many now. Us geezers can remember the debate over the very tame episodes of “Gunsmoke.” Those who warned of consequences….were right!

        1. DJRippert Avatar
          DJRippert

          But Hollywood, Silicon Valley and the left in general told us that violent entertainment content, especially with regard to children, made no difference.

          Watch any of the John Wick movies. The message is clear – all of your problems can be solved with extreme violence, lots and lots of gun killings and some really cool karate.

          When will the anti-gun activists in Hollywood refuse to make films glorifying gun violence?

          About as soon as Al Gore takes a coach flight to Davos.

        2. DJRippert Avatar
          DJRippert

          But Hollywood, Silicon Valley and the left in general told us that violent entertainment content, especially with regard to children, made no difference.

          Watch any of the John Wick movies. The message is clear – all of your problems can be solved with extreme violence, lots and lots of gun killings and some really cool karate.

          When will the anti-gun activists in Hollywood refuse to make films glorifying gun violence?

          About as soon as Al Gore takes a coach flight to Davos.

      3. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
        Dick Hall-Sizemore

        It seems that she was charged under that felony child neglect statute, as well as under the misdemeanor charge of leaving a loaded, unsecured gun around so a child could get it.

        1. Nathan Avatar
          Nathan

          It seems you have edited your comment, so I will edit mine as well.

          Maybe the prosecutor has been reading Bacon’s Rebellion.

          Just kidding.

          1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
            Dick Hall-Sizemore

            Yes, I commented too hastily. Then I went back and read the article to discover the actual charges in the indictment.

          2. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            Been there, done that.

  3. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    If convicted, I think she should receive the maximum allowable sentence on all counts.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      For the felony child neglect count, the maximum sentence would be five years in prison. For the misdemeanor gun charge, the maximum sentence is 12 months in jail.

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Six years will be better than nothing.

        1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          If she gets the maximum sentence of six years, she could earn sentence credits of up to 15 percent.

          1. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            I know. That’s the way the system works, so we have to live with that possibility, right?

          2. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            Don’t worry, we are tough on “gun crime” already on the books though.

            /s

      2. Kathleen Smith Avatar
        Kathleen Smith

        But then, who is going to manage this child in the long run. Sad. I really don’t think one should call a 6 year old a sociopath. He may well be, but in comments, I think we should remember he is only six.

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          “But then, who is going to manage this child in the long run.”

          Probably shouldn’t be mom. We might get Deja vu all over again.

          From his behavior the kid clearly has severe mental health issues. He was likely a half step short of a separate educational setting even before he shot his teacher. Dunno that any of us around here have the clinical skills to make a specific diagnosis.

          Remember too he was prescribed to be daily accompanied by a 1 to 1 aide (a parent), The day he shot his teacher was reportedly the first day he was there sans aide.

          Among the school’s failures was its failure to provide an aide or to otherwise deal with the kid. They just sent him along to class, and then failed to find the gun when it was repeatedly reported.

          Mom needs some consequences, but it would not be a surprise to find that the kid’s mh issues are downstream from his parent’s. I am also glad they have convened a special grand jury to examine the school’s multiple profound negligences. The assistant principal specifically reportedly was serially non responsive.

          1. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            “The assistant principal specifically reportedly was serially non responsive.”

            The reports I read were worse. It sounded to me like the assistant principal actively prevented anything meaningful from happening.

          2. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            I wouldn’t want to be accused of overstating, but from what I’ve read it seems likely you’re right. Adds new light to “obstruction”.

          3. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            We might get Deja vu all over again.

            I see what you did there.

          4. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            I couldn’t help myself, flash me a cheap word play and I’ll follow you anywhere.

    2. Charles D'Aulnais Avatar
      Charles D’Aulnais

      You’re assuming that a jury won’t be persuaded by the trigger lock. Remember, the indictment presents no exculpatory evidence.

      I have read where it is not unusual for people to buy trigger locks under the assumption that “one size fits all”. Some discover their mistake, some don’t.

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        You’re assuming that a jury won’t be persuaded by the trigger lock

        No, I’m not. The first two words of my comment were: “If convicted”. There was a reason for that.

      2. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        I have read where it is not unusual for people to buy trigger locks under the assumption that “one size fits all”. Some discover their mistake, some don’t.

        Not sure where you are reading, but firearms come with a trigger lock. That’s most likely the one being talked about.

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          Yes, a gun lock is included with every new firearm sold in the United States.

          I have a decent-sized collection of them. I’ve been thinking about grabbing my Dremel-tool and a welder and creating some kind of abstract sculpture from them.

  4. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    I see that Kerry has now taken up child psychiatry, labeling a six-year old a sociopath.

    1. VaNavVet Avatar
      VaNavVet

      Kerry seems to have a ready label for everything and especially for those who disagree with her.

      1. Charles D'Aulnais Avatar
        Charles D’Aulnais

        That’s what made her such an exceptional reporter.

    2. Tom B Avatar
      Tom B

      Since definitions are important, can anyone define what a fair share is and how to compute it?

  5. energyNOW_Fan Avatar
    energyNOW_Fan

    Is it standard practice to keep the parents ID secret to protect the minor?

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      The stories I read identified the parent as Deja Nicole Taylor,

      1. energyNOW_Fan Avatar
        energyNOW_Fan

        OK yesterday a national news outlet said it was abstaining from ID to protect the minor

    2. Nathan Avatar
      Nathan

      Her name is now public and was included in the article above – Deja Taylor.

      I’ve Googled it but have not seen a picture of her.

  6. Charles D'Aulnais Avatar
    Charles D’Aulnais

    Some indictments take years, even in the face of obvious evidence.

  7. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    She insisted she kept it on the top shelf of a closet with a trigger lock. If that’s true, her son — 6 years old, remember — is some sort of Houdini.

    There are a number of possibilities. The trigger lock may have been on the gun, but the key was easily accessible.

    Or perhaps, she realized she was in deep doo doo, found the unused lock , an put it on the shelf to make it look like it had been used.

    It will be interesting what comes out during the trial, if there is one. I’m betting she pleads out for a reduced sentence before then.

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