Newly unsealed search warrants have revealed the disturbing words allegedly spoken by a 6-year-old student in Virginia after he brandished a gun at school and shot his teacher.
According to Amy Kovac, a reading specialist at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, the boy said, "I shot that b---- dead" on January 6, 2023, just moments after the shooting. Kovac rushed into the classroom and restrained the child until the police arrived.
Local news outlets reported on Tuesday that the unsealed warrants provided details of the incident. Kovac heard a gunshot and saw several children running out of the classroom. The teacher, 25-year-old Abigail Zwerner, also fled the classroom, bleeding from her hand and upper torso, before collapsing in the front office. She was immediately taken to the hospital. The warrant states that Kovac entered the classroom and found the boy standing by his desk with the gun on the floor next to him.
According to Kovac, the boy also said, "I did it. I got my mom's gun last night." Earlier that day, two students had informed Kovac that they had seen the boy with a gun in his backpack. Kovac and a school administrator searched the student's backpack during recess but did not find the firearm at that time.
In April, Zwerner's legal team filed a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News School Board and certain administrators. The lawsuit claims that several school employees, including Zwerner herself, had warned the administration about the boy before the shooting occurred. Zwerner told investigators at the hospital after the shooting that she had separated her first-grade class into two groups for a reading activity after recess when the boy pulled out the gun. She asked him, "What are you doing with that?" before he fired a shot at her.
The warrant reveals that Zwerner informed investigators that there had been multiple "disciplinary incidents" involving the same student leading up to the shooting. These incidents involved physical violence and threats of violence, which had been reported to school administrators.
Days after the shooting, investigators interviewed the boy's former kindergarten teacher, who had been assigned to Richneck Elementary School. The retired teacher informed the police that she had been choked by the same boy in September 2021. The warrant notes that the limited school records obtained from Child Protective Services did not include any information about the alleged choking incident described by the kindergarten teacher. It is possible that this incident, along with others, was not readily provided by Newport News Public Schools.
While the boy has not been charged, his mother, Deja Taylor, faces two counts: felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of leaving a firearm in a way that could endanger a child. A plea hearing is scheduled for August 15, instead of a bench trial. Taylor's attorney, James Ellenson, has previously stated that the boy's mother was dealing with mental health issues following an ectopic pregnancy and a miscarriage.
In addition to the state charges, Taylor has pleaded guilty to federal charges of being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. Her next court appearance in that case is scheduled for October 18.
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