Current:Home > InvestSurpassing:Mother of 6-year-old boy who shot his Virginia teacher faces two new federal charges -AssetScope
Surpassing:Mother of 6-year-old boy who shot his Virginia teacher faces two new federal charges
Charles Langston View
Date:2025-04-10 14:50:59
The Surpassingmother of a 6-year-old boy accused of shooting and seriously wounding his first-grade teacher earlier this year in Virginia faces two new federal charges, according to court documents filed on Monday.
Deja Taylor is accused of unlawfully using a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. The new charges follow felony charges filed in April accusing Taylor of child neglect and endangerment.
Taylor "knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement to Winfree Firearms," a gun shop in Grafton, Va., from which she purchased a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, court documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia allege. The documents also allege that Taylor falsely claimed on Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives application forms that she did not use marijuana despite unlawfully using the drug.
Abby Zwerner, a 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, was shot in the hand and chest by a student on Jan. 6 as she sat at a reading table in her classroom. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has had four surgeries since the shooting.
While the boy was not charged in connection with the shooting, a grand jury returned an indictment charging his mother with "felony child neglect and misdemeanor recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child," Newport News Commonwealth's Attorney Howard Gwynn said in April. Taylor will return to court in August to face those charges, CBS affiliate WTVR reported.
The boy used his mother's gun, police said, which had been purchased legally.
Family members said the gun was secured. They also noted the 6-year-old boy suffers from an acute disability.
Zwerner in April filed a $40 million lawsuit, accusing school officials of gross negligence for allegedly ignoring multiple warnings that the boy had a gun and was in a "violent mood" on the day of the shooting.
S. DevS. Dev is a news editor for CBSNews.com.
veryGood! (411)
Related
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- Wildfire smoke is blanketing much of the U.S. Here's how to protect yourself
- The NCAA looks to weed out marijuana from its banned drug list
- When work gets too frustrating, some employees turn to rage applying
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- Be a Part of Halle Bailey and Boyfriend DDG's World With This PDA Video
- A step-by-step guide to finding a therapist
- Paul McCartney says there was confusion over Beatles' AI song
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
- Why do some people get rashes in space? There's a clue in astronaut blood
Ranking
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Georgia police department apologizes for using photo of Black man for target practice
- Titan sub implosion highlights extreme tourism boom, but adventure can bring peril
- Obama’s Oil Tax: A Conversation Starter About Climate and Transportation, but a Non-Starter in Congress
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- A Warming Climate is Implicated in Australian Wildfires
- Climate Change is Pushing Giant Ocean Currents Poleward
- Fish make music! It could be the key to healing degraded coral reefs
Recommendation
Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
Energy Department Suspends Funding for Texas Carbon Capture Project, Igniting Debate
They tried and failed to get an abortion. Texas family grapples with what it'll mean
Public Comments on Pipeline Plans May Be Slipping Through Cracks at FERC, Audit Says
Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
Malaria cases in Texas and Florida are the first U.S. spread since 2003, the CDC says
After Roe: A New Battlefield (2022)
Malpractice lawsuits over denied abortion care may be on the horizon