*Deja Nicole Taylor, the mother of the 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot his first-grade teacher will be held accountable for her son’s actions. Taylor, 25, was sentenced on Nov. 15 to 21 months in prison on federal charges.
The young matriarch was charged with using marijuana while in possession of a firearm and making a false statement about her drug use during the purchase of the firearm. In June, Taylor pleaded guilty to both felonies, according to Ice Cream Conversations, citing ABC News.
The sentencing comes months after the 6-year-old brought a gun to his Newport News, VA elementary school and intentionally shot and wounded his teacher, Abby Zwerner.
The educator suffered a gunshot wound through her hand and into her chest from the incident.
DejaTaylor – Abigail ‘Abby’ Zwerner (Newport News PD-GoFundMe)
At Taylor’s sentencing hearing, Zwerner relived the shooting and its effects on her.
“Not only do I bear physical scars from the shooting that will remain with me forever, but I also contend daily with deep, psychological scars that plague me during most waking moments and invade my dreams,” she said, adding that she has undergone five surgeries and regular intensive physical therapy to restore motion in her hand.
“This permanent damage should never have been allowed to happen to me and would not have happened if not for the defendant’s actions or lack thereof.”
Since the shooting, Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit against her school district, accusing them of negligence, Ice Cream Convos noted.
During the hearing, prosecutors revealed Taylor’s weapon was also involved in a separate shooting weeks before her son shot Zwerner.
Deja Taylor (James Ellenson, an attorney for Taylor)
In addition, the hearing uncovered facts involving an unreturned U-Haul truck rented by Taylor that was found with the passenger rear window broken. Text messages between Taylor and her son’s father revealed Taylor shot at the father after seeing him with his girlfriend. No one was injured in the shooting, which resulted in no calls to the police.
Building off the incident with Taylor’s son’s father, court filings mentioned that Taylor was a “marijuana abuser, whose chronic, persistent and, indeed, life-affecting abuse extends this case far beyond any occasional and/or recreational use.”
In court filings, prosecutors said, “Not once, but twice someone nearly lost their lives because of Taylor’s offenses of conviction,” prosecutors said, according to the filings.
Commenting on Taylor and the sentencing, Taylor’s attorney Gene Ross expressed his client is “extremely remorseful and contrite and takes full responsibility for her actions.”
“At no time did she intend for any of these consequences to occur, especially the tragic shooting of the wonderful teacher at the elementary school,” Ross said in a statement to ABC News.
“We are hopeful that when she serves her sentence, and when she gets out, she gets the absolutely needed treatment for her addiction, her disease, and the challenges she has in her life. I am confident that she is going to have a wonderful rebound in the near future.”
Although Taylor was also indicted on state charges in connection to the school shooting, she has yet to be sentenced after pleading guilty to child neglect in August. ABC News further reports a misdemeanor charge Taylor sustained for endangering a child by reckless storage of a firearm was dropped.
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