FALLOUT

Mom of 6-Year-Old Who Shot Virginia Teacher Pleads Guilty to Child Neglect

Prosecutors decided to drop Deja Taylor’s misdemeanor charge of recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child.

The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his first-grade teacher in Virginia pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a charge of felony child neglect. In April, Deja Taylor was indicted on two charges, including a misdemeanor count of recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child. But prosecutors decided to drop the misdemeanor charge and pursue a sentence no longer than six months under her plea agreement. Before she was shot, teacher Abigail Zwerner reportedly warned school administrators of the student’s troubled behavior, which even included a threatening note about wanting to light her on fire, according to The Washington Post. While Zwerner survived with gunshot wounds to her hand and chest, the 6-year-old boy allegedly bragged that he “shot that bitch dead,” unsealed police search warrants state. It is unclear how the child obtained the gun, but Taylor has previously told police she believed the handgun was in her purse secured with a trigger lock and stowed on top of her drawer. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, however, never found evidence of a trigger lock in their searches.