Virginia mother Deja Taylor pleads guilty after 6-year-old son used her gun to shoot his teacher
Deja Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher at their Virginia school, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges stemming from the gunfire.
Taylor had been facing one felony count of child neglect and a misdemeanor count of reckless storing of a firearm. Prosecutors agreed to drop the misdemeanor charge as part of a plea deal that will allow for a sentence no longer than state sentencing guidelines, which call for six months in jail or prison.
Taylor’s sentencing hearing has been set for for Oct. 27.
Abigail Zwerner was critically wounded in her classroom at Richneck Elementary on Jan. 6. She was reading from a book when a student pulled out his mother’s 9-mm. handgun and started shooting. Zwerner was struck once in the chest and again in her left hand, but she still managed to escort her 20 students out of the classroom to safety.
She was hospitalized for two weeks — during which time she underwent multiple surgeries — before she was released to continue her recovery at home. Zwerner has since filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school, accusing it of negligence.
According to search warrants filed in the case, in the moments after the shooting, the child told a reading specialist who restrained him: “I shot that [expletive] dead,” and “I got my mom’s gun last night.”
During the plea hearing Tuesday, a prosecutor said the boy told authorities that to get the gun, he had to pull out a drawer and climb to the top of his mother’s dresser, where the gun was stored inside a purse. Those details were contained in a “stipulation of facts,” a list of details both sides agree are true.
Taylor previously told authorities she believed the weapon was in her purse, secured with a trigger lock and stashed on top of her bedroom dresser, according to search warrants. She added that she kept the key hidden under her mattress, but a search of the home did not turn up any trigger lock.
Back in June, Taylor pleaded guilty in a separate but related federal case to using marijuana while possessing a firearm, which is illegal under U.S. law.
With News Wire Services
