The announcement comes after a special grand jury released a scathing report Wednesday finding clear security failures that led to the shooting and recommending a criminal investigation of top officials in the Newport News School District over missing evidence. It was done later.
“This lapse in security was appalling and should never have happened,” Gwynn said at a news conference Thursday. He added: “What the report makes clear is that this was avoidable. If people had carried out their responsibilities in the right way, this would not have happened.”
Gwynn spoke to reporters shortly after former Rich Neck assistant principal Ebony Parker briefly appeared in court Thursday on charges related to her response to the Jan. 6, 2023, shooting death of first-grade teacher Abigail Zwirner by a student. He told the group. Zwerner escaped injury.
Parker, 39, who was charged with felony child abuse, appeared before a Newport News Circuit Court judge, who continued the first hearing of her case until May 17. Ms. Parker did not speak, and her attorney later declined to comment.
A special grand jury indicted Parker in March on eight counts of child abuse in the case, which experts believe is likely the first time a school administrator has been criminally charged in a school shooting. The charges were cleared this week.
A special grand jury called Parker's response to the shooting “shocking” and said he did not heed multiple warnings from teachers and other staff members that the boy had a gun on the day of the shooting. .
The boy took his mother's gun from the house and fired at Zwerner, who was teaching the class near the end of the school day.
The report also documents administrative, security and disciplinary failures by the school and its administrators that led to the shooting, including an incident in which a 6-year-old previously strangled a teacher. It also said that he should have attended a different school after the incident. In kindergarten.
The special grand jury said police obtained a search warrant for the boy's disciplinary file, but the documents were missing when investigators went to pick them up at the school. They were the only disciplinary files missing from the school.
Rakish Parrott, the district's director of elementary education, eventually returned one of the files, but a special grand jury said all disciplinary records were missing, including documents related to the choking incident at the preschool. Other files remain missing.
Parrott said she could not remember how she obtained the disciplinary file, which the special grand jury called “highly questionable.” The committee questioned whether she was involved in a cover-up and recommended that Ms. Parrott be investigated for obstruction of her official duties. Parrott did not return calls seeking comment from The Washington Post.
Mr. Zwerner's lawyers held a press conference Thursday and praised the work of the special grand jury. Zwerner sued the school system and district officials for $40 million. Lawyers encouraged the state of Virginia and the U.S. Department of Education to open investigations into the shootings following new reports.
“I hope the school board and its lawyers look at this matter and do something about it, respond appropriately and understand that this is a serious problem with systemic issues,” said Zwerner's attorney, Kevin Biniazan. I look forward to that.” “While we hope this will move the case forward, we fully understand that we must continue the fight, and we expect and intend to do so.”
Dejah Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old boy, was sentenced in November to 21 months in prison on a federal conviction related to the weapon used in the shooting. A month later, in state court, she pleaded guilty to felony child neglect and was sentenced to two years in prison in Virginia.
The Newport News School District released a statement Thursday thanking the special grand jury for its work.
“Since this incident, we have implemented many positive changes and will continue to do so,” it said in a statement. “The safety of our students and staff remains the school board’s top priority.”