[62 / 1 / 19]
https://apnews.com/article/boy-teacher-shooting-virginia-zwerner-taylor-marijuana-003697d7cfdfeb1576b336f987f4326f
Mother of 6-year-old boy who shot teacher gets 21 months for marijuana use while owning a gun
FILE - Deja Taylor arrives to the United States Courthouse in Newport News, Va., on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, with her lawyer James Ellenson. Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in Virginia is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, Nov. 15, for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)
FILE - Deja Taylor arrives to the United States Courthouse in Newport News, Va., on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, with her lawyer James Ellenson. Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in Virginia is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, Nov. 15, for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)
BY BEN FINLEY
Updated 7:03 PM EST, November 15, 2023
Share
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia was sentenced Wednesday to 21 months in prison for using marijuana while owning a firearm, which is illegal under U.S. law.
Deja Taylor’s son took her handgun to school and shot Abby Zwerner in her first-grade classroom in January, seriously wounding the educator. Investigators later found nearly an ounce of marijuana in Taylor’s bedroom and evidence of frequent drug use in her text messages and paraphernalia.
Taylor’s sentencing in a U.S. District Court offered the first measure of accountability for January’s shooting, which revived a national dialogue about gun violence and roiled the military shipbuilding city of Newport News.
Taylor, 26, still faces a separate sentencing in December on the state level for felony child neglect. And Zwerner is suing the school system for $40 million, alleging that administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun.
Mother of 6-year-old boy who shot teacher gets 21 months for marijuana use while owning a gun
FILE - Deja Taylor arrives to the United States Courthouse in Newport News, Va., on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, with her lawyer James Ellenson. Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in Virginia is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, Nov. 15, for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)
FILE - Deja Taylor arrives to the United States Courthouse in Newport News, Va., on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, with her lawyer James Ellenson. Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in Virginia is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, Nov. 15, for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)
BY BEN FINLEY
Updated 7:03 PM EST, November 15, 2023
Share
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia was sentenced Wednesday to 21 months in prison for using marijuana while owning a firearm, which is illegal under U.S. law.
Deja Taylor’s son took her handgun to school and shot Abby Zwerner in her first-grade classroom in January, seriously wounding the educator. Investigators later found nearly an ounce of marijuana in Taylor’s bedroom and evidence of frequent drug use in her text messages and paraphernalia.
Taylor’s sentencing in a U.S. District Court offered the first measure of accountability for January’s shooting, which revived a national dialogue about gun violence and roiled the military shipbuilding city of Newport News.
Taylor, 26, still faces a separate sentencing in December on the state level for felony child neglect. And Zwerner is suing the school system for $40 million, alleging that administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun.
