The body camera footage, showing the immediate aftermath of a 6-year-old student shooting his teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, has recently been unsealed following a motion by The Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot. The video captures the young boy, identified in court documents as J.T., cursing at officers and school staff while threatening them in the classroom where the incident occurred on January 6, 2023.
This footage provides a look at the intense scene that unfolded after the first-grade student fired a single round at his teacher, Abby Zwerner. According to The Daily Press, the bullet struck Zwerner in the hand and chest as she stood in front of 16 students. When Newport News police officers and sheriff’s deputies arrived at the school, they found the boy in Classroom 11, being held in a bear hug by reading specialist Amy Kovac.
Body camera footage from Officer Brian Torrez shows the boy shouting at the responding officers, saying, “Both y’all want a f—ing piece of me, b—?!” Kovac, who had rushed to the classroom after hearing the gunshot and finding Zwerner bleeding in the school office, told the boy “Stop!” as she kept him restrained. The boy continued to lash out, telling her, “F— you, b—.” As the officers secured the scene, they located a 9 mm Taurus handgun on the floor, 15 to 20 feet away from the child.
Despite the case being closed, the video was unsealed
In the outlet’s transcription, during the interaction, Kovac informed the officers that she had previously warned the assistant principal about a potential threat regarding the student. The boy then made an unintelligible comment, followed by a remark about a person who “retired last year.”
When an officer asked for the boy’s age, The Daily Press noted that in the footage, Kovac confirmed he was 6 years old and noted that he had been on a modified schedule. She explained that it was his first week attending school without his mother present.
The Daily Press noted that the boy’s behavior remained volatile throughout the encounter. He flashed a middle finger at Kovac and repeatedly used profanity. At one point, he gestured toward the firearm and told the officers, “My mom had that. I stole that from my mom.” Court documents later revealed that the boy had climbed onto his mother’s dresser that morning, removed the weapon from her purse, and placed it in his backpack before heading to school.
As the officers prepared to take him into custody, the boy reportedly continued his verbal threats. “If you want a piece of me, come get it on, b—,” he said. “I don’t care if you call backup. I don’t care if I go to jail, b—.”
The outlet noted that Kovac attempted to redirect him, telling him to “Stop” again. She then told him, “That’s not how we speak to each other.” According to testimony provided by Kovac in the civil trial in May, the boy then punched her, which caused her glasses to fall off. The body camera footage captures the sound of the struggle, though the view is partially obstructed.
According to the Daily Press, the prosecution had introduced this video as an exhibit during the trial of former Richneck assistant principal Ebony Parker, who faced charges of felony child neglect. The video was initially sealed by Circuit Court Judge Rebecca M. Robinson due to the child’s age. However. media outlets successfully challenged the order. The judge eventually permitted the video to be unsealed, provided the child’s face remained blurred.
The events leading up to the shooting were described in detail during the legal proceedings. According to the New York Post, Zwerner and other staff members testified that they had raised concerns about the boy’s aggressive behavior in the days leading up to the incident.
Zwerner reportedly recounted that the boy had thrown her cellphone on the floor three days prior, and on the morning of the shooting, she felt he was in a “violent mood.” Despite these warnings, prosecutors alleged that the administration failed to intervene.
As per reports, Zwerner, who was severely injured, was later awarded $10 million in a civil lawsuit against Parker. The student’s mother, Deja Nicole Taylor, served time in both state and federal prison for child neglect and lying on a background-check form regarding the firearm. In a different recent case, another Virginia mother landed in the child neglect registry after allowing her son to walk half a mile to a pond alone.
The boy, now roughly 9 or 10 years old, is currently in the custody of his great-grandfather in Newport News. He does not face criminal or civil liability for the shooting.
Published: Oct 9, 2026 07:06 am