A judge dismissed all charges against a vice principal who allegedly ignored warnings that a 6-year-old boy had a gun. The boy shot his teacher in 2023. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | License Photo
May 21 (UPI) -- Criminal charges were dropped Thursday against an elementary school vice principal who had allegedly ignored warnings that a 6-year-old child had a gun before he shot his teacher.
Ebony Parker was assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., when a first-grader shot his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, in 2023. Prosecutors said Zwerner and other staff had warned Parker that they believed the boy had a gun in his backpack, but Parker refused to search him or allow others to do so. Only administrators and security guards were allowed to search students at the time.
Parker was charged with eight counts of felony child neglect, and Zwerner was injured in the shooting.
Judge Rebecca Robinson said she was dropping all eight counts against Parker. Prosecutors had said she was charged with eight counts, one for each of the bullets in the gun the student used.
