School shooting by six-year-old came after multiple warnings he had a gun
The grand jury report provides a granular, often minute-by-minute accounting of each time the special grand jury said Parker disregarded concerns. For instance, one teacher spoke of a “visibly scared and shaking” child who reported seeing bullets from the boy’s 9mm handgun during recess.
A counsellor, Rolonzo Rawles, then told Parker the same story, according to the report.
“Mr Rawles, now the third person and fourth time this message had been relayed, went back to Dr Parker and communicated that the child either had a gun or ammunition at least,” it said.
Parker refused to let the boy be searched after his backpack was examined, the report said, describing the child sitting at his desk with “a loaded firearm tucked into his jacket”.
“Ms Zwerner was then left alone with 16 first-grade students in her class that day, of which one had been reported by three different students over the course of two hours to have a firearm,” it added.
In the weeks after the shooting, Newport News Public Schools announced that Parker had resigned.
She and other school officials also face a $US40 million ($61 million) negligence lawsuit from Zwerner, whose accusations dovetail with many of the details in the grand jury’s report.
Students and police gather outside of Richneck Elementary School after the shooting.Credit: The Virginia-Pilot/AP
Zwerner was sitting at a reading table in front of the class when the boy fired the gun, police said. The bullet struck Zwerner’s hand and then her chest, collapsing one of her lungs. She spent nearly two weeks in hospital and has endured multiple surgeries as well as ongoing emotional trauma, according to her lawsuit.
The children who were in her class that day are also struggling emotionally.
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One student “will not talk to anyone about what happened,” according to the report, while another boy covers his ears any time someone asks him about it.
“He is afraid that the child will come back someday and hurt him,” it said. “His mother is currently in therapy as a result.”
Yet another boy who reported the six-year-old having the gun is also in therapy, struggling with the guilt that the shooting was his fault, according to the report.
And a woman whose daughter witnessed the shooting and was subsequently denied a request to transfer to a different school was said to have sold her house and drained her savings — all “so that her daughter could go to school without feeling afraid”.
Many children were denied transfers, according to the report, which recommended allowing them in cases where a medical professional confirms a child is still struggling.
AP
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