The 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his teacher with his mother’s gun later bragged about it to a school employee – shockingly claiming, “I shot that bitch dead,” according to newly unsealed search warrants.
After the first-grader shot Abigail Zwerner at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on Jan. 6, reading specialist Amy Kovac held the boy until cops arrived, according to the documents obtained by WTKR.
“I did it … I shot that bitch dead,” the pint-sized pistol packer bragged, the docs show. “I got my mom’s gun last night.”
The unsealed records of Zwerner’s statement to investigators at the hospital said that when the child drew the gun from his pocket and pointed it at her, the teacher asked, “What are you doing with that?”
The boy “then fired one shot that struck Zwerner in her left hand and upper torso,” the affidavit states.
Zwerner, 25, who suffered a collapsed lung and other grave injuries, has filed a $40 million lawsuit alleging the school officials ignored multiple warnings about the student leading up to the incident. She has since resigned.
The documents also revealed additional information about a previous incident in kindergarten in which the boy apparently attacked another teacher.
Several days after the shooting, detectives interviewed the retired teacher, who said the child choked her in September 2021, according to a search warrant cited by WTKR.
“This affiant was able to obtain limited school records pertaining to [the student] from Child Protective Services,” the document reportedly reads.
“The incident to which [the kindergarten teacher] describes above is not found in these records. This affiant believes that [the kindergarten teacher’s] incident and possibly others were not readily provided by Newport News Public Schools,” it adds.
The student’s mom, Deja Taylor, 25, has pleaded guilty in federal court to using marijuana while owning a firearm, which is illegal under US law.
She also faces state charges of felony child neglect and reckless storage of a firearm.
Taylor’s attorney, James Ellenson, said she believed the firearm was secured on a high closet shelf with a trigger lock, and that it was unclear how the boy got a hold of it.
Ellenson has said saying Taylor faced mental-health issues after having an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage.
She will plead guilty to the state charge of child neglect on Aug. 15, Ellenson told CNN on Tuesday, adding that a state charge for recklessly handling a firearm will be dropped at the time of the plea.
“The cap for sentencing on the child neglect charge is six months,” the attorney added.
Sentencing on the federal charges is scheduled for Oct. 18. The sentencing on the state charge will take place Oct. 27.
Taylor’s son has not been charged in the shooting.
“The child had extreme emotional issues, and we are all working to see that he improves every day,” Ellenson told CNN.
He added that the boy — who has been described by family reps as suffering from an “acute disability” — is in therapy and has shown improvement.
In a statement to WTKR, the Newport News School District said in response to the search warrant that “unfortunately, FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, prevents schools from releasing information from a student’s education record.
“U.S. Department of Education guidance states ‘schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student’s education record,’” the statement says.
“Newport News Public Schools is unable to comment on this matter in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,” it adds.
