A Virginia mother whose six-year-old son shot his first-grade teacher inside a classroom earlier this year has been hit with a prison sentence.
On Wednesday, Deja Taylor, 26, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in federal court for consuming marijuana while in possession of a firearm, per The New York Times.
Taylor's son, whose name has been kept out of media reports, opened fire at Abigail Zwerner on January 6 at Richneck Elementary in Newport News, Virginia, using his mother's handgun, according to police.
Authorities later found around an ounce of cannabis in Taylor's bedroom and found text message exchanges that showed evidence of drug use.
"This case is not a marijuana case," federal prosecutors stated in court filings. "It is a case that underscores the inherently dangerous nature and circumstances that arise from the caustic cocktail of mixing consistent and prolonged controlled substance use with a lethal firearm."
The 26-year-old mom is still facing sentencing in December on state charges of felony child neglect. Zwerner, who sustained serious injuries, is suing the school system for $40 million, claiming that administrators had ignored several warnings that the boy was in possession of a firearm.
Taylor's lawyers sought probation and home confinement from the judge, per court filings, arguing that their client is in need of counseling for mental health problems including schizoaffective disorder, a condition that has similar symptom to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
"Ms. Taylor is deeply saddened, extremely despondent, and completely remorseful for the unintended consequences and mistakes that led to this horrible shooting," her lawyers wrote.
Taylor's attorneys also said she was in need of treatment for a marijuana addiction. Sometime after her son's shooting incident, Taylor smoked two blunts, according to prosecutors. She also failed drug tests as she awaited sentencing on the federal charges.
Zwerner was struck in the hand and chest and spent about a fortnight in the hospital. She also underwent multiple surgeries. A little while after the shooting, the child told a reading specialist who restrained him: "I shot that (expletive) dead," and "I got my mom’s gun last night," according to search warrants filed in the case.
Investigators said the student carried the weapon in his backpack, which had pictures of sharks on it. It is still not clear exactly how the child managed to get a hold of the gun.
Taylor had previously fired the gun while in public, according to prosecutors. She opened fire at her son's father in December after she saw him with his partner.
"U kouldve killed me," the father wrote to Taylor in a text message, according to a brief from prosecutors.
Since the shooting Taylor's grandfather has had full custody of her now seven-year-old son, per court documents.
