Ex-assistant principal faces trial after six-year-old shot Virginia teacher

A former assistant principal at an elementary school in Virginia is due in court for trial on criminal charges of ignoring warnings that a six-year-old student brought a loaded gun to school which was later used to shoot his first-grade teacher . Ebony Parker’s criminal trial is set to start on Monday in Newport News. Parker is charged with eight counts of felony child neglect, one for each of the eight bullets in the gun that was brought into the classroom of Abby Zwerner, a Richneck elementary school teacher, in January 2023, prosecutors have said. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison upon conviction. The charges allege Parker “did commit a willful act or omission in the care of such students, in a manner so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life”, according to court documents. Criminal charges against school officials following a school shooting are quite rare, experts say. The shooting sent shock waves through this military shipbuilding community and the country at large, with many wondering how a child so young could gain access to a gun and shoot his teacher. Last November, a jury awarded $10m to Zwerner, siding with her claims in a lawsuit that Parker, an ex-assistant principal, ignored repeated warnings that the child had a gun. Zwerner was shot as she sat at a reading table in her classroom. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, required six surgeries and does not have the full use of her left hand. …