Shooting of Newport News, Virginia, teacher by 6-year-old was an ‘avoidable event,’ special grand jury report says

CNN
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The 2023 shooting at a Virginia elementary school in which a 6-year-old student shot his teacher was an “avoidable situation,” a special grand jury said in a newly released report, citing “poor decisions” in the lead-up to the shooting.

The 11-member panel investigating the January 6, 2023, shooting at Richneck Elementary school in Newport News also found a “shocking” lack of response by the former assistant principal despite several warnings about the child, the report says.

The report, dated March 11 but publicly released Wednesday, highlights a series of security failures and “many behavioral problems” involving the child before the shooting that wounded first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner.

The school’s former assistant principal, Ebony Parker, received four reports on the day of the shooting about the student having a firearm and “neglected to take any action upon receiving” the reports “of a potentially dangerous threat,” the special grand jury report said.

Parker and other administrators were also “responsible for making poor decisions regarding the child” prior to the day of the shooting and dismissed “his teachers concerns,” the report said.

“Despite the fact that the child … had enough documented substantial behavioral problems known by Dr. Parker to have him physically removed from the school the year prior, the child was placed in Ms. Zwerner’s first grade class for a total of 23 students enrolled.”

And despite warnings on the day of the shooting – including from “three different students over the course of two hours” – that the student had a firearm, the 6-year-old was not searched or removed from class, according to the report.

Parker resigned about three weeks after the shooting and was indicted and charged with with eight counts of child abuse and disregard for life by a special grand jury last month, according to court records.

The panel also noted missing evidence in the case, including on the child’s disciplinary records, and said another school district administrator should be investigated to “determine if she should be criminally charged with obstruction of justice.”

“It is at its best a complete lack of competence as to how things were run and recorded and at its worst a cover up for the child’s past disciplinary record by the school administration,” the report said.

CNN has reached out to Richneck Elementary Public School and Ebony Parker’s attorney for comment. Newport News Public Schools declined to comment when reached by CNN.

The teacher, Zwerner, filed a $40 million lawsuit last year against the school board and administrators alleging they ignored warning signs and were aware of the student’s “history of random violence,” CNN previously reported.

“The grand jury report reveals a systemic failure that led to the shooting of Abby Zwerner. Most shocking is the apparent cover up of disciplinary records before and after the shooting. We are grateful for the work of the special grand jury and the answers they have provided this community,” attorneys for Zwerner told CNN.