An assistant principal at a Virginia elementary school shook off repeated warnings that a 6-year-old student had a gun that was later used to shoot his teacher, a prosecutor said Tuesday.Opening statements were given in the trial of Ebony Parker, who is charged with eight counts of felony child neglect in the January 2023 shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. The shooting wounded first grade teacher Abby Zwerner in her classroom.Prior to the shooting, several school employees told Parker they believed the child had a gun in his backpack, only to be told by Parker that the child’s mother would be arriving soon to pick him up for the day, special prosecutor Josh Jenkins said.“Does she say ‘search the child’? No,” Jenkins told the jury. “Does she say ‘call the police,’ or does she call the police? No. Does she remove the child from the classroom and separate him? No.
“She didn’t even get up from her desk. She didn’t leave her office. Warning after warning after warning, she did nothing.”But Parker’s attorney, Curtis Rogers, said teachers should have done something if they believed a gun was present, saying they should have at least separated the child from about 19 other students in the classroom.
