The 11-member committee also accused Newport News School District executives of obstructing the investigation into the high-profile shooting after a key piece of evidence, the boy's disciplinary file, went missing. proposed a criminal investigation.
A special grand jury reserved the harshest sentence for former Rich Neck principal Ebony Parker, finding the boy had a gun and did nothing, saying he had been warned three times on the day of the shooting. did.
“Dr. Parker's response and lack of agency is shocking given the seriousness of the information she received on January 6, 2023,” the committee said in its 24-page report.
A special grand jury, led by Newport News State Attorney Howard E. Gwynn, investigated the investigation into last year's shooting that seriously injured Zwirner, drew national attention and led to the superintendent's firing. An investigation was conducted to determine whether there had been any security lapses.
The report was released the day after a special grand jury's indictment against Parker was unsealed. Experts say Mr. Parker faces eight charges of child abuse, possibly the first time his administrator has been charged in connection with a school shooting.
Gwynn's office has declined to comment on what led to the charges, but the $40 million lawsuit filed by Zwirner alleges Parker was accused by teachers and other staff members of the school that the boy had a gun on the day of the shooting. He claims he ignored several warnings.
Parker's attorney did not respond to a request for comment, but denied Zwerner's claims in a response to the lawsuit filed in court. Parker is scheduled to appear in Newport News Circuit Court on Thursday morning. She resigned from Richneck after the shooting.
The incident began on January 6, 2023, when a 6-year-old boy took a gun from his mother's purse on a dresser, put it in his backpack, and brought it to school.
Zwerner's lawsuit claims she warned Parker that day that the boy was in a “violent mood” and had threatened to hit the kindergartener, but Parker did nothing. Zwerner claims that was one of several moments where Parker could have intervened to prevent the shooting.
Later that day, two students told a reading specialist that the boy had told them he had a gun, according to the complaint. A reading specialist questioned the boy, but he denied owning a gun and would not let his teacher search his backpack.
Later, during a break, Zwerner told a reading specialist that he thought he saw the boy take something out of his backpack and put it in his pocket, according to the complaint. A reading specialist searched the boy's backpack and found no weapon. Later, the reading specialist told Parker that the students had informed him that the boy had a gun.
Zwerner's lawsuit alleges that one student told another teacher that a male student had shown a classmate a gun on the playground during recess. The teacher also obtained information from Mr. Parker through an intermediary.
According to Zwerner's complaint, shortly before the shooting, a career guidance counselor asked Parker to search the boy for a gun, but Parker refused the request. The boy pulled out her gun and fired one shot at her, hitting her in the hand and chest.
Zwerner was taken to the hospital, where a teacher restrained the boy.
The boy's mother, Dejah Taylor, was convicted of firearms violations and child neglect in federal and state court after the shooting. Taylor admitted that she lied about marijuana use on her background check when purchasing her gun and did not give the gun to her son. She is currently serving a sentence in prison.
In April 2023, Gwynn censured a special grand jury, asking it to investigate “any actions or inactions by current or former employees of the Newport News School System that may have contributed to this shooting.” Ta.
The panel began testifying in September. He spoke to 19 witnesses, collected hundreds of pages of documents and obtained videos to compile his report. Under Virginia law, special grand juries have broad investigative powers.