Updated on: May 20, 2026 / 7:56 AM EDT
/ CBS/AP
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The assistant principal of a Virginia elementary school where a 6-year-old student shot his teacher in 2023 "did nothing" about the fact he had a gun, despite receiving repeated warnings from colleagues, a prosecutor said in court Tuesday.Before the January 2023 shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, school employees told Ebony Parker they believed the student had a gun in his backpack, but she dismissed their concerns, said special prosecutor Josh Jenkins. Parker is now facing eight counts of felony child neglect for her role in the incident, which wounded first grade teacher Abby Zwerner.During the trial's opening statements, Jenkins said Parker told the employees who approached her about the child's gun that his mother would be arriving soon to pick him up for the day. "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."That did not occur," Rogers said. "Each one of those individuals had the authority to move those classmates."
