Prosecutor Says Former Assistant Principal Dismissed Warnings About Student With Gun

A prosecutor told a jury Tuesday that the former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, received multiple warnings about a student with a gun but took no action before the January 2023 shooting. Special prosecutor Josh Jenkins said school employees told Ebony Parker they believed the student had a gun in his backpack.

Parker responded that the student's mother would arrive soon to pick him up, Jenkins said. Parker faces eight counts of felony child neglect. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Jenkins said Parker did not search the child, call police, or remove the student from the classroom. A school counselor asked to search the child but Parker denied the request because only an administrator or security officer could conduct searches, Jenkins said.

The school's security officer was at another school that day. Parker did not inform the principal about the reported threat, Jenkins said. Parker's attorney, Curtis Rogers, said teachers who believed a gun was present should have separated the student from the other 19 students in the classroom.

First-grade teacher Abby Zwerner testified that the student had slammed her phone to the ground days earlier and appeared in a violent mood on the day of the shooting. Zwerner said the student wore an oversized jacket with hands in pockets during recess.

Zwerner was shot at a reading table after recess. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, required six surgeries, and does not have full use of her left hand. A jury awarded Zwerner $10 million in a civil trial last November. The student's mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison on felony child neglect and federal weapons charges.