NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Virginia prosecutor said Thursday that he will pursue the case against a former assistant principal indicted on a felony child neglect charge at the elementary school where a 6-year-old shot a teacher last year, and suggested others could be charged as the investigation continues.
A day after a special grand jury’s report outlining the case against ex-administrator Ebony Parker was made public, Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn told reporters that he was “troubled” by the findings but believes the charge is warranted. He added that he had never brought a charge against a school administrator or heard of it being done as it relates to this case, but that “we go wherever the facts will lead us.”
“I never thought about this as precedential,” Gwynn said. “I simply think about this as us doing our jobs. And so, whether it has any precedent or not, it’s not really relevant to what we do and it has no bearing into any decision we make.”
The shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on Jan. 6, 2023, brought national attention to school safety and stunned the community when police announced the child’s actions appeared intentional.
Legal experts say it remains rare for charges to be brought against parents, adminstrators or other adults when a child commits gun violence at school. But some say the recent involuntary manslaughter trials of the Michigan parents of a teenage school shooter who killed four classmates — the first parents in the U.S. to be held criminally responsible for a mass shooting committed by their child — could set a legal precedent leading to similar prosecutions.
Gwynn said there is a message to be sent when charges are brought in the fallout of school shootings and that “the safety of children and staff and administrators should be taken seriously.”
“Everything you do and say sends a message. And what is the message that you want to send by your conduct,” Gwynn said of school officials, adding it…
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