Mom of boy accused of shooting teacher faces years in prison, feds say. What we know

A mother’s 6-year-old son used her handgun when he shot his first grade teacher at school in Virginia in January, federal prosecutors said.

Now, she’s facing years in prison, according to prosecutors.

The woman, 25, pleaded guilty on June 12 to charges of unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during purchase of a firearm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced in a news release.

She could be sentenced up to 25 years in prison, officials said.

However, prosecutors are asking for her to be sentenced to no more than two years in prison, a plea agreement shows. Although officials have publicly named the woman, McClatchy News isn’t naming her to protect the identity of her child.

“This case is a tragedy. A Perfect Storm of horrible consequences,” her defense attorney Gene Rossi told McClatchy News in a statement on June 13. “A terrible tragedy because a brave and courageous teacher’s life was almost taken.”

Abigail Zwerner, the teacher who survived the bullet that struck her in the chest on Jan. 6 and left her in need of hand surgeries, filed a $40 million lawsuit over the shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News in April, McClatchy News previously reported. The Newport News school board and school officials were named as defendants.

Rossi said the case is also a tragedy because the son was “somehow able to get hold of a gun owned by” her before the incident.

“Although (the woman’s) role in this tragedy was a complete accident and a complete mistake, she accepted responsibility for her son’s actions and will live with guilt for the rest of her life,” Rossi added.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News in May, the mother said she feels responsible for the shooting and is willing to take responsibility for it.

The judge at her sentencing hearing scheduled for Oct. 18 isn’t bound by prosecutors’ decision to ask for a lesser sentence, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

“The court can impose the sentence above or below the guideline range if it wants to,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Miller said at her plea hearing, the newspaper reported.

What do the charges against the mother stem from?

After the woman’s child shot Zwerner with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives learned she bought the weapon on July 19, 2022, prosecutors said.

Over a week after the shooting, federal agents searched the mother’s home and found drug paraphernalia, drug packaging, marijuana, marijuana edible packaging, a box of ammunition and a black firearm barrel lock on Jan. 19, according to prosecutors.

They also searched the woman’s mother’s home where she was staying and found more marijuana, edible packaging and paraphernalia, the release said.

In searching both the woman’s home and her mother’s home, agents didn’t find a weapon lockbox, a trigger lock for a gun or a key to a trigger lock, the release said.

When the woman bought her handgun, she’s accused of lying on an ATF form, saying she “was not an unlawful user of marijuana or other controlled substances,” prosecutors said.

Although marijuana is legal in Virginia for adults over 21 in small doses, it’s not legal at the federal level.

Further investigation revealed that in April 2021, the woman was pulled over with her son, who was 4 years old at the time, and another individual with marijuana and other suspected drugs inside the car in Williamsburg, according to officials.

A police officer found several marijuana edibles, bags of marijuana, suspected cocaine, suspected oxycodone pills, a “smoking device,” scales and more, prosecutors said.

Why are prosecutors asking for a lesser sentence?

In recommending a sentence of no more than two years, prosecutors wrote in her plea agreement that she helped the government in their investigation and prosecution of her.

The woman let authorities know she planned to plead guilty in a timely manner, the plea agreement says.

By doing so, the government was able to avoid preparing for a trial and didn’t have to use its resources for trial, according to the plea agreement.

The mother has also waived her right under law to appeal the sentence the judge decides to impose on her in October, the plea agreement shows.

After her sentencing, the federal case against her in the Eastern District of Virginia will be permanently closed and she will be immune from further prosecution, according to the plea agreement.

This story was originally published June 13, 2023 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Mom of boy accused of shooting teacher faces years in prison, feds say. What we know."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.