Richneck assistant principal charged with child neglect in 6-year-old's shooting of Virginia teacher

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A special grand jury in Newport News has charged a former school administrator with multiple counts of felony child neglect in the case of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher early last year.

Ebony J. Parker — the former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School — showed “a reckless disregard for the human life” of other students on Jan. 6, 2023, according to indictments unsealed Tuesday in Newport News Circuit Court.

Parker, 39, of Newport News, was charged with eight counts of felony child neglect, each punishable by up to five years in prison.

The charges come about 15 months after the first-grader shot his teacher, Abby Zwerner, in the Richneck classroom. Just before 2 p.m. that day — as Zwerner sat at a reading table and the boy at his desk — he suddenly pulled a gun out of his front hoodie pocket, pointed at his teacher, and fired a single round. The bullet went through the teacher’s left hand, striking her in the upper chest.

Zwerner has filed a $40 million lawsuit contending Parker ignored several stark warnings — including from other teachers at Richneck — that the boy had a gun in school.

The Newport News special grand jury asserts Parker failed to take action. The eight indictments all read identically, mirroring language from Virginia’s child neglect statute.

“Being a person responsible for the care of students under the age of 18 at Richneck Elementary School,” the eight indictments each say, Parker committed “a willful act or omission in the care of such students” that was “so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life.”

The special grand jury issued the indictments March 11, but they were unsealed by a court order Tuesday. A warrant was issued for Parker’s arrest Tuesday morning, but she had not been arrested by the late afternoon.

The Newport News prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the indictments but is expected to release a report from the special grand jury on Wednesday afternoon.

Parker had worked for the Newport News school division since 2008 and had been Richneck’s assistant principal for about two years at the time of the shooting. She resigned a few weeks afterward.

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