(Washington) A mother, whose 6-year-old son had seriously injured his mistress in January with a firearm, was charged Monday in this case which had shocked the United States.
Deja Taylor is being prosecuted for “parental failure” and for “endangering a minor by leaving a loaded firearm accessible”, announced in a press release the prosecutor of Newport News, in the State of Virginia (east).
“My client will go to court later this week,” her lawyer James Ellenson told AFP.
Prosecutor Howard Gwynn added that his investigation was not complete and that he had appointed a “special grand jury” – a panel of citizens with broad investigative powers – to review the security device. from school.
If this grand jury “determines that other people are criminally responsible, it can adopt other indictments”, according to Mr. Gwynn, who had given up prosecuting the shooter a month ago given his young age. .
On January 6, this child took a Taurus 9mm caliber pistol, legally purchased by his mother, from his schoolbag and shot his teacher, 25-year-old Abigail Zwerner.
The young woman had been hospitalized for two weeks with hand and chest injuries. Beyond the student’s age, the case caused shock because police called the shooting “intentional.”
In a statement released shortly after the tragedy, his parents assured that their firearm was stored in a “secure” place and that their son “suffered from an acute disability” requiring special care.
At the beginning of April, Abigail Zwerner filed a civil complaint against the school authorities, which she accuses of having ignored warnings about the violent behavior of this pupil. She is claiming $40 million in damages.
The United States, where nearly 400 million weapons are in circulation, is regularly bereaved by shootings in schools. The latest tragedy took place at the end of March in Nashville, where three nine-year-old students and three adults were killed in a small Christian school.
But it is very rare that shooters are so young. About fifteen children under the age of ten have opened fire in schools since the 1970s, according to the database of researcher David Riedman, who is a reference on the subject.
