Virginia mom whose six year-old son shot his teacher is BANNED from contacting him until he’s 18, as she’s sentenced to an additional two years in prison

The Virginia mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher with her handgun will not be allowed to contact her child until he turns 18, a judge ruled Friday.

Deja Nicole Taylor, 25, was also sentenced to an additional two years in prison for child neglect after her son shot his teacher Abigail Zwerner, 26, in her classroom in Newport News in January.

The Newport News Circuit judge sentenced Taylor to a total of five years, three of which were suspended.

Taylor previously pleaded guilty to using marijuana while possessing a gun and was sentenced in November to 21 months in prison for a weapons offense.

As part of that plea deal, local prosecutors agreed to drop the charge of recklessly storing a firearm.

Authorities said she lied on a federal background check about her drug use when she bought the gun her son brought to school.

The seriously injured teacher spent two weeks in hospital after the January incident in which a bullet hit her hand and chest.

Moments after the shooting, the 6-year-old told a reading specialist who was restraining him, “I shot that (expletive)” and “I got the gun from my mom last night,” according to search warrants.

Taylor told police she believed her 9mm handgun was secured with a trigger lock at home. But authorities said they never found a lock during searches.

Taylor's son told authorities he climbed a drawer to reach the top of a dresser drawer, where the gun was in her purse.

He hid the gun in his backpack and then in his pocket before shooting his teacher in front of the class, prosecutors said.

The day of the shooting, the six-year-old was dropped off at school by his mother.

That morning he told other children that he had a firearm in his backpack and the staff was also informed about this.

Instead of removing him from any classroom, school administrators allowed him to be around other children and teachers.

They checked his backpack for a weapon, but he had already removed it and stuffed it into his sweatshirt, according to a lawsuit Zwerner later filed.

According to the lawsuit, the vice principal then banned all teachers from searching the boy themselves.

At 1:59 p.m., he pulled the gun from his sweater and shot Zwerner in the chest. The bullet first hit one of her hands, which she says saved her life.

Zwerner no longer works for the school system and no longer teaches.

In April, she filed a lawsuit against the school board and some teachers for not doing more to protect her and others from the child. The 20-page lawsuit describes the boy's past behavior in disturbing detail.

“John Doe was expelled from school during the 2021-2022 school year while he was in kindergarten after he choked and strangled a teacher,” the lawsuit said.

“Also during the 2021-2022 school year, a female child fell on the playground and John Doe approached her, pulled up her dress and began touching the child inappropriately until he was reprimanded by a teacher,” it said read.

Two days earlier, the same boy had smashed her phone and called her an 'asshole'.

A year before the shooting, the boy was so troublesome that he was expelled from school after trying to strangle another teacher, and was supposed to be supervised by a parent every day.

Since her arrest, Taylor has tested positive twice for marijuana and once for cocaine, federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing this month.

She also missed two drug tests and two treatment sessions, they said.

“These violations are serious and call into question Defendant's danger to the community, respect for the law, and the orders of the Court,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa McKeel and Peter Osyf wrote.

Zwerner is suing Newport News Public Schools for $40 million, alleging gross negligence toward school administrators.

But the school board is trying to block the lawsuit, arguing that Zwerner's injuries are covered by workers' compensation, and as such are limited to 10 years' pay and limited medical benefits.

Zwerner says administrators ignored multiple warnings that the boy had a gun that day and had routinely dismissed ongoing concerns about his disturbing behavior.