Newly unsealed body-camera footage shows the minutes after a six-year-old first-grader shot his teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, on January 6, 2023. The recording, from Officer Brian Torrez, was played at a criminal trial earlier this year and released to the public this week after The Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press successfully moved to unseal it. The child’s face is blurred.
The boy, identified in court only as J.T., pulled a 9mm Taurus handgun from his jacket during an afternoon reading class and fired once at teacher Abby Zwerner from about ten feet away. The bullet passed through her left hand and lodged in her chest, collapsing a lung. She and about 16 students fled the classroom; she collapsed in the school office. A fragment remains in her chest. She has said she thought she was dying.
When officers entered Classroom 11, reading specialist Amy Kovac was restraining the child. She told police the gun was still in the room and that he had admitted having it. A deputy found the handgun on the floor, 15 to 20 feet away, with additional rounds in it; reports have described the weapon as jammed and holding seven more bullets. An officer noted what appeared to be gunshot residue on the boy’s hands and cautioned colleagues not to touch them.
On the nearly three-minute recording, the child is combative. He tells officers he took the gun from his mother—“My mom had that. I stole that from my mom”—and says he does not care if they call backup or if he goes to jail. He repeatedly swears at Kovac and the officers, including a challenge along the lines of whether they “want a piece” of him. Kovac tells them he is six, has been on a modified schedule, and that this was his first week at school without his mother accompanying him. Clips posted online have drawn tens of millions of views.
The child was not criminally charged. His mother, Deja Taylor, pleaded guilty to state felony child neglect and to federal charges tied to the firearm and drug use on a purchase form. She received a two-year state sentence, above the plea recommendation, and a 21-month federal sentence, and has since been released from custody. The boy has remained with relatives.
Zwerner later sued over warnings that the child might have a gun. In November 2025 a jury found former assistant principal Ebony Parker grossly negligent and awarded Zwerner $10 million. Parker had faced eight felony child-abuse counts—one for each unspent round—but in May 2026 Judge Rebecca Robinson dismissed them with prejudice, ruling that the alleged failure to act was not a crime under Virginia law. The body-camera video was a prosecution exhibit in that trial.
SOURCES:
Bodycam Footage of 6-Year-Old Who Shot Teacher Goes Viral – Newsweek
Bodycam of the 6-Year-Old Who Shot His Teacher Just Dropped and My God, How Is This Real? – RedState
Newly released body-cam video shows moments after 6-year-old shoots Virginia teacher – YouTube
Newly released body-cam video shows moments after 6-year-old shot Newport News teacher | FOX 5 DC
Disturbing bodycam footage shows boy, 6, hurling expletives at aide after shooting teacher in chest – The Mirror US
Body cam footage shows aftermath of 6 year-old shooting teacher
