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The mother of a 6-year-old Virginia boy accused of shooting school teacher Abby Zwerner in the face in January has been charged with alleged federal gun and drug crimes.
Deja Taylor, 25, who is already facing child neglect and gun charges in state court over the Jan. 6 shooting, is now charged by the feds with lying about using marijuana when she bought a gun last year, KTVB-TV News said Monday.
Taylor allegedly claimed she did not use drugs when she bought the 9 mm handgun at a Grafton, Virginia gun shop on July 19, 2022, court records show.
Although marijuana is legal in Virginia, among other states, it remains illegal under federal law.
Taylor’s lawyer, Jimmy Ellenson, told WTKR-TV that she plans to plead guilty to the federal charges.
“We’ve come to an agreement and a resolution which I think will be satisfactory to all parties,” Elleson said.
“She gave interviews to the police the day this occurred and gave another interview the week after,” he said. “We consented to a search of her mom’s house. We consented to an i-Phone download as well so she has been cooperative from day one.”
It is not clear if the weapon in question was the same one used to shoot and wound Zwerner at the Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.
Taylor’s son allegedly shot the beloved teacher in the head and chest as she read to her first-grade class.
The boy had been suspended for smashing Zwerner’s cell phone after she told him to sit down in class just two days before the shooting, according to authorities.
The teacher claims she warned school administrators about the boy’s behavior in the past, including giving a classmate the middle finger and shoving another student to the ground.
On Jan. 6, the youngster brought the gun to class and shot Zwerner.
Taylor was arrested in April and charged in state court with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly leaving a loaded firearm to endanger a child.
In her first interview since her arrest last month, Taylor said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that her son “felt like he was being ignored” in the days leading up to the incident.
“I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” she said during the interview.
Taylor is due back in court on the state charges in August.
Meanwhile, Zwerner has filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school district over the incident, claiming that administrators ignored her warnings about the boy’s behavior.
In her own interview on NBC”s “Today” show in March, the wounded teacher said she remains traumatized by the incident, and said there are days she can’t even get out of bed.
