Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal, is in court for a criminal trial related to the 2023 shooting of a first-grade teacher by a student. The incident occurred at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, where a 6-year-old shot teacher Abigail Zwerner in the hand and chest on January 6, 2023. Parker is charged with eight counts of child abuse and neglect.
Following the shooting, Parker resigned from her position. In a civil case last year, a jury awarded Zwerner $10 million, finding Parker liable for ignoring warnings that the child had a weapon. Now, Parker faces criminal charges stemming from the same incident.
In 2024, an indictment charged Parker with eight child abuse counts, each with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A 31-page grand jury report accuses her of failing to protect 15 children, ages 6 and 7, in Zwerner’s class. Despite multiple staff and student warnings that the boy might have a gun, Zwerner was injured that day.
According to Zwerner’s lawyers, another student witnessed the child taking a gun from his pocket on the playground and notified a teacher. When the teacher requested to search the child, “the assistant principal said no.”
In 2023, the child’s mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years for felony child neglect. She will serve this sentence after completing 21 months for a related federal charge. Taylor was convicted for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under federal law, and received her sentence in November 2023.
During the previous trial for gross negligence against Parker, two teachers from Richneck Elementary testified that they alerted Parker about the student possibly having a gun in his backpack. Zwerner’s attorneys emphasized that school guidelines required Parker to act once informed of a potential threat. Parker’s defense argued that she had no legal obligation to protect Zwerner.
This trial is set to last three days. An acquittal might safeguard Zwerner’s $10 million civil award, payable by the Virginia Risk Sharing Association (VRSA). The VRSA, including the Newport News School Board, covers many public bodies statewide. A guilty verdict could allow insurers to challenge the payment to Zwerner.
If convicted, Parker faces up to 40 years in prison.