A Virginia elementary school’s former assistant principal is facing felony child neglect charges, over a year after a first-grade student brought a gun to class and accidentally shot their teacher.
Indictments unsealed on Tuesday reveal that Ebony Parker, on January 6, 2023, demonstrated a reckless disregard for the lives of Richneck Elementary School students, as determined by a special grand jury in Newport News.
Parker and other school officials are already facing a $40 million negligence lawsuit from the teacher who was shot, Abby Zwerner. Zwerner alleges that Parker and others disregarded several warnings about the boy’s possession of a gun and his aggressive state of mind on the day of the shooting.
Experts say that it is uncommon for school officials to face criminal charges after school shootings. In this case, Parker, who is 39 years old, is facing eight felony counts. If convicted, each count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
According to court documents filed on Tuesday, the criminal case against Parker provides limited information, only including the charges and a brief description of the felony offense. The accusation states that Parker engaged in a deliberate act or omission while caring for the students. This act was deemed gross, wanton, and culpable, demonstrating a reckless disregard for human life.
According to Newport News police, the student who shot Zwerner obtained his mother’s handgun from a dresser at home and concealed it in a backpack before bringing it to school.
According to the lawsuit, Parker refused to grant permission for a guidance counselor to search the boy, as the counselor had requested. Parker explicitly stated that the boy’s mother would be coming soon to pick him up.
Parker, along with other defendants named in the lawsuit, including a former superintendent and the Newport News school board, have made efforts to obstruct Zwerner’s legal action.
Zwerner’s injuries have been claimed to fall within the scope of Virginia’s workers’ compensation law, but these arguments have not been successful in preventing the litigation. The lawsuit filed by Zwerner is scheduled for trial in January.
A year ago, prosecutors announced their investigation into potential criminal charges related to the actions or omissions of school employees.
In April 2023, Howard Gwynn, the commonwealth’s attorney in Newport News, stated that he had requested a special grand jury to investigate potential “security failures” that may have played a role in the shooting incident. Gwynn emphasized that the investigation aims to identify any shortcomings and provide recommendations to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
In the past, there have been other school shootings that led to criminal investigations involving school officials. One such example is the Parkland school massacre in 2018, where a former school resource officer was accused of hiding during the incident. However, he was later acquitted of all charges.
The University of Michigan-Flint’s Chuck Vergon, a professor of educational law and policy, told The Associated Press last year that it is unusual for a teacher or school official to face charges in a school shooting because it can be difficult to prove criminal negligence.
Those affected by school shootings are more likely to bring civil action against school administrators, he said.
