Messages of support for teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot by a 6-year-old pupil. Photo / AP
Messages of support for teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot by a 6-year-old pupil. Photo / AP
The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot and wounded his teacher in Virginia has been formally arrested on charges of child neglect and failing to secure her handgun.
The Newport News Police Department released a booking photo of the woman, 25, and a brief statement that said she turned herself in at the local jail. Police did not release any information regarding bail or whether she was being held in jail.
The Associated Press isn’t naming the mother to shield the identity of her son.
Authorities had announced that she was being charged with felony child neglect and a misdemeanour charge of endangering a child by reckless storage of a firearm. Her lawyer had said she planned to turn herself in later this week. He did not return a phone call or email requesting a comment today (NZ time).
Willow Crawford, left, and her older sister Ava join friend Kaylynn Vestre, centre, in expressing their support for Richneck Elementary School first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner during a candlelight vigil in her honour. Photo / AP
The woman’s arrest comes more than three months after police say her son shot and wounded first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner as she sat at a reading table in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School. Police said the child used his mother’s gun, which was bought legally.
Zwerner filed a US$40 million (NZ$63m) lawsuit against the school system last week, accusing school officials of gross negligence and of ignoring multiple warnings from teachers and others that the boy had taken a gun to school that day.
The city prosecutor’s office said it was investigating whether the “actions or omissions” of any school employees could lead to criminal charges.
The January shooting has rattled Newport News, a shipbuilding city of about 185,000 people near Chesapeake Bay.
Police chief Steve Drew has repeatedly characterised the shooting as intentional. He said there was no warning and no struggle before the child pointed the gun at Zwerner and fired one round, striking her in the hand and chest.
Abby Zwerner was shot by a 6-year-old with a gun owned by his mother. Photo / Facebook
Zwerner, 25, hustled her students out of the classroom before being taken to hospital, where she stayed for nearly two weeks.
The felony neglect charge filed against the boy’s mother is punishable by up to five years in prison. The misdemeanour charge of recklessly storing a firearm is punishable by up to one year in jail.
James Ellenson, the mother’s lawyer, has said previously she has no criminal record. He also said her gun was secured on a top shelf in her closet and had a trigger lock.
The family has said the boy has an “acute disability” and was under a care plan that included his mother or father accompanying him to class every day. The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him, the family said.
