Mother of boy, 6, who shot Virginia teacher pleads guilty to child neglect
The mother of a six-year-old boy who shot his teacher in a Virginia classroom has pleaded guilty to child neglect.
Another charge of reckless storage of a firearm against Deja Taylor has been dropped.
As part of the plea deal prosecutors said they would not seek a sentence longer than six months.
The teacher, Abby Zwerner, was shot in the hand and chest in January but survived after multiple operations.
She claims Richneck Elementary ignored warnings the child had brought a gun to school and is suing for $40m (£32m).
Police in the town of Newport News said the boy had carried the weapon in his backpack.
According to warrants filed in the case, he told a reading specialist who restrained him: “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I got my mom’s gun last night.”
Prosecutor Joshua Jenkins told Tuesday’s plea hearing the boy had said he got the weapon by climbing on a dresser drawer to reach his mother’s handbag.
The court heard he had a defiance disorder and had previously taken her car keys, as well as indications from a child protection report that he had played with a gun at his grandmother’s house.
Teacher Abby Zwerner is suing the school
Taylor told police she thought the gun was still in her handbag and secured with a trigger lock – with the key under her mattress, according to search warrants.
However, authorities said they never found a trigger lock during searches.
Taylor also pleaded guilty in June to possessing a firearm while using cannabis, in a separate but related federal case.
Her lawyer, James Ellenson, has argued there are mitigating factors including her miscarriages, anxiety and postpartum depression.
He said he would address these at the sentencing hearing on 27 October and that the boy is now with his great-grandfather.
Taylor told Good Morning America in May that she felt responsible for the shooting and apologised to the teacher.
She said her son had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and was meant to have a parent with him in class.
However, Taylor said the week of the shooting was the first time he went unaccompanied as he’d been showing signs of improvement.
Thousands of people gathered in various cities across the US as protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk took place in all 50 states on Saturday.
Around 1,200 demonstrations were planned in locations including Washington DC, New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida – just miles away from where the US president has this weekend played golf.
The “Hands Off!” protests were against the Trump administration’s handling of government downsizing, human rights and the economy, among other issues.
In Washington DC, protesters streamed on the grass in front of the Washington Monument, where one person carried a banner which read: “Make democracy great again.”
Thousands gathered in Washington DC to rally against various Trump policies. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Another protester took aim at Mr Trump‘s handling of Russia and Ukraine, with a placard that read: “Stop Putin’s puppets from destroying America.”
Tesla boss Mr Musk also featured on many signs due to his role in controversial government cuts as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Demonstrators in NYC. Pic: AP
People marching in Atlanta, Georgia. Pic: Reuters
A rally in Vermont. Pic: The Brattleboro Reformer via AP
Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist, said she drove to the rally to protest Mr Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education”.
“I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is,” she added.
A drone view of the protest at the Utah State Capitol building. Pic Reuters
A protester sports a Handmaid’s Tale costume. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Some at the various protests carried Ukrainian flags, while others sported rainbow attire and waved rainbow flags in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Other protesters wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and carried “Free Palestine” signs.
Thousands marched in New York City’s midtown Manhattan and in Boston, Massachusetts, while hundreds gathered in the sunshine outside the Utah State Capitol building in Salt Lake City, and in the rain outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.
👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈
Mr Trump – who shook financial markets with his tariffs announcement this week – spent the day in Florida, playing a round of golf before returning to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
People protest in Manhattan. Pic: Reuters
Activists in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Pic: AP
Some four miles from Mar-a-Lago, more than 400 people gathered – and drivers honked their horns in support of protesters who held up signs including one which read: “Markets tank, Trump golfs.”
The White House has said Mr Trump plans to go golfing again on Sunday.
US
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway