A 6-year-old boy shot his teacher, cursed at the police and admitted to stealing his mum’s gun

• A six-year-old shot teacher Abby Zwerner inside Richneck Elementary School in Virginia.

• Newly released bodycam footage shows him cursing at police and challenging them to fight.

• The boy told officers he stole the 9mm handgun from his mother before taking it to school.

A newly released body-camera video has captured the disturbing moments after a six-year-old boy shot his first-grade teacher inside a Virginia elementary school.

The video showed the child cursing at police officers, challenging them to fight and admitting that he had stolen the gun from his mother.

The shooting happened on January 6, 2023, at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, but the nearly three-minute police video was not made public until October 2026.

The footage, recorded by Newport News police officer Brian Torrez, was previously shown as evidence during the criminal trial of former Richneck assistant principal Ebony Parker.

 A judge later ordered it unsealed after The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press sought access to the recording, with the child’s face blurred because he was a minor.A

The video begins shortly after the six-year-old, identified in court records as J.T., fired a single shot at his teacher, Abby Zwerner, during an afternoon reading class.

Zwerner, who was 25 at the time, had been sitting at a reading table when J.T. pulled a 9mm handgun from his jacket, pointed it at her from about 10 feet away and fired.

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The bullet passed through Zwerner’s hand and entered her chest. She survived the shooting but suffered serious injuries that required six surgeries. The bullet remains lodged in her chest.

Immediately after the gunshot, reading specialist Amy Kovac rushed into the classroom and restrained the boy in a bear hug while police officers arrived. As the officers entered, Kovac pointed them towards the firearm.

“The gun is there,” she told them, explaining that the child had admitted he had a weapon.

A sheriff’s deputy then located the 9mm handgun on the classroom floor, about 15 to 20 feet from where J.T. was being restrained.

Rather than appearing frightened by the arrival of police, the six-year-old became confrontational. He repeatedly cursed at Kovac and the officers and challenged them to fight.

“Both y’all want a fing piece of me, b*?!” he said. Kovac told him to stop, but he continued swearing at her. “F*** you, b****,” he said.

At another point, the boy told the officers that he did not care if they called for backup or if he went to jail.

“I don’t care if you call backup. I don’t care if I go to jail,” he said, according to the footage.

Kovac asked him whether anything had hurt him when he fired the weapon.

“No,” he replied.

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She then asked to see his hands. An officer noticed what appeared to be gunshot residue on them.

The firearm had not been completely emptied. According to reporting on the court evidence, the handgun still had seven rounds after the shooting and had jammed, preventing further shots from being fired.

When officers questioned the boy about the gun, he admitted that it belonged to his mother and said he had taken it from her.

“My mom had that. I stole that from my mom,” he said.

Court evidence later established how he got hold of it. On the morning of the shooting, J.T. climbed onto a dresser in his mother’s bedroom, reached her purse and took the handgun. He put it inside his backpack and brought it with him to Richneck Elementary School.

He kept the weapon hidden until the afternoon, when he removed it from his jacket during Zwerner’s reading class and fired at his teacher. The newly released footage also provides a glimpse into the concerns school employees had raised before the shooting.

As police dealt with the boy, Kovac told them that she had previously informed the assistant principal, Ebony Parker, that there was a threat involving him.

She also explained that the boy was six years old, was attending school on a modified schedule and that it was his first week attending without his mother staying at the school.

Other school employees had also raised concerns about J.T. before he shot Zwerner. Evidence presented in subsequent proceedings showed that students had reported that the boy had a gun at school. 

Those concerns were passed to school officials, including Parker, who was accused of failing to take sufficient action. The issue eventually became the centre of both a civil lawsuit filed by Zwerner and a criminal case against Parker.

Parker was charged with eight felony counts of child neglect over allegations that she ignored warnings that J.T. had a firearm before the shooting.

However, in May 2026, Newport News Circuit Judge Rebecca Robinson dismissed all eight charges after the prosecution presented its case, ruling that the allegations did not constitute a criminal offence under the law. 

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A jury previously awarded Zwerner $10 million after finding Parker liable. Zwerner had sought $40 million in damages. 

The teacher’s injuries were severe. After being shot, Zwerner managed to get her pupils out of the classroom before collapsing in the school office. She spent weeks receiving treatment and underwent multiple operations as a result of the gunshot.

The six-year-old could not be prosecuted for shooting Zwerner because he was below the minimum age of criminal responsibility under Virginia law.

His mother, Deja Nicole Taylor, however, was prosecuted over the circumstances that allowed him to access the firearm.

Taylor was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to felony child neglect. She also faced a separate federal firearms case and ultimately spent years in state and federal custody. She was released from prison in February 2026, according to recent reporting. 

The boy was later placed in the custody of his great-grandfather, Calvin Jerome Taylor. He is now around nine or 10 years old and remains in Newport News, according to reporting surrounding the release of the footage. 

Because he was a minor, his identity and face have continued to be protected in public records and the newly released video.