(WASHINGTON) — Nearly 27% of all inmates held in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Corrections were held past their release dates over a four-month period, according to a Justice Department report.
The Justice Department said in a report that between January and April 2022, 26.8% of the people, or 1,108 people, released from LDOC’s custody were held past their release dates. Twenty-four percent of the people were held for over 90 days past their release dates, and the median number of days over detained was 29, the report added. There were nearly 4,200 people in custody overall.
“LDOC is deliberately indifferent to the systemic over detention of people in its custody,” the Justice Department said.
The agency’s over detention violates the 14th amendment which guarantees people that are incarcerated in jail and prison not to be detained beyond their release dates, the Justice Department said.
“Our investigation uncovered evidence of systemic violations by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections that have resulted in the routine confinement of people far beyond the dates when they are legally entitled to be released. We are committed to taking action that will ensure that the civil rights of people held in Louisiana’s jails and prisons are protected. We stand ready to work with state officials to institute long overdue reforms,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in a press release on Wednesday.
This is costly, the Justice Department said.
“In just this four-month period, LDOC had to pay parish jails an estimated $850,000, at a minimum, in fees for the days those individuals were incarcerated beyond their lawful sentences. At that rate, this unconstitutional practice costs Louisiana over $2.5 million a year,” a release from the Justice Department says.
The DOJ said that LDOC has been on notice of the problem for 10 years but has done nothing to fix it.
LDOC has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
(NEW YORK) — Tyre Nichols, the Black man whose death this month at the hands of five Memphis, Tennessee, police officers has triggered national outrage, suffered from “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to a preliminary independent autopsy commissioned by the family.
“His observed injuries are consistent with what the family and attorneys witnessed on the video of his fatal encounter with police on January 7,” the family of Tyre Nichols and their attorneys, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, said in a statement. “Further details and findings from this independent report will be disclosed at another time.”
The autopsy was released by the family’s attorneys who hired their own “highly regarded, nationally renowned forensic pathologist” to complete the report. The independent autopsy has not been released publicly.
Body camera footage of the incident has yet to be released, but Crump described the video as “appalling,” “deplorable,” “heinous,” “violent” and “troublesome on every level” during a press conference Monday.
The family is cooperating with an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice. Police said the bodycam video will be released within the next two weeks.
“Whatever it takes to clear my son’s name and to get justice for my son,” Rodney Wells told ABC News. “If they need to keep the video for two more weeks, then let them keep the video for two more weeks.”
The Memphis Police Department announced on Friday that it fired the five police officers, all Black, involved in the incident, concluding the department’s internal investigation.
The officers were identified as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith.
The former police officers and the police union did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Memphis Chief of Police Cerelyn Davis said that other Memphis police officers are still under investigation for Memphis Police Department policy violations in a video posted Wednesday evening.
After viewing the bodycam video, Davis called the officers’ actions “heinous, reckless, and inhumane,” adding that “when the video is released in the coming days, you will see this for yourselves.”
Chief Davis said that she expects those to protest following the video’s release, but warns that even though she anticipates outrage, that “none of this is a calling card for inciting violence.”
Nichols’ family said he was kicked, pepper-sprayed and shocked with a stun gun, all while Nichols repeatedly asked, “What did I do?”
“Once the video started and I heard my son’s voice, I lost it. I couldn’t stay in the room. All I heard him say was, ‘What did I do?’ And once I heard that, I lost it,” Rowvaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, told ABC News on Monday.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told ABC News his office is looking into possible criminal charges against the former officers. The family said it is hoping for murder charges.
Nichols was stopped by police on Jan. 7 for alleged reckless driving and was hospitalized in critical condition after complaining of shortness of breath during the arrest. Three days later, Nichols died.
“They handcuffed him and set him, propped him up on the car. And as he fell over they’d tell him ‘sit back up,'” Rodney told ABC News. “You know, and he would slump back over again and they would make him sit back up. They never rendered any aid.”
(NEW YORK) — A massive, coordinated scheme to sell false and fraudulent nursing degree credentials has been brought down by a joint federal law enforcement operation, Justice Department officials said Wednesday.
As first reported by ABC News, officials said the scheme involved peddling more than $100 million worth of bogus nursing diplomas and transcripts over the course of several years — fake credentials that were sold to help “thousands of people” take “shortcuts” toward becoming licensed, practicing nurses.
The forged diplomas and transcripts were sold from what had been accredited schools to aspiring nurses, in order to help candidates bypass the qualifying requirements necessary to sit for the national nursing board exam. Although they still had to take the exam, the bogus credentials allowed them to skip vital steps of the competency and licensure process, officials said — and once licensed, those individuals were able to find a job in the health care field.
Overall, the conspiracy involved the distribution of over 7,600 fake nursing diplomas and certificates issued by Florida-based nursing programs, according to officials.
“This is probably one of the most brazen schemes that I’ve seen. And it does shock the mind,” Omar Perez Aybar, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), told ABC News in an exclusive interview.
The sweeping enforcement action spanned five states: Florida, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Delaware, and resulted in more than two dozen criminal wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy charges against 25 individuals.
We “expect our health care professionals to be who they claim they are. Specifically when we talk about a nurse’s education, and credentials – shortcut is not a word we want to use,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe. “When we take an injured son or daughter to a hospital emergency room, we don’t expect — really cannot imagine — that the licensed practical nurse or registered nurse training our child took a shortcut.”
HHS-OIG, the FBI and Justice Department worked jointly on the operation, dubbed “Operation Nightingale,” in honor of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.
Investigating agents spent weeks combing through upwards of 10,000 records from nursing schools to move the investigation forward. “As we started to poke through them we noticed there were no real courses the individuals took — it was simply a cash mill,” Aybar said.
Nursing candidates who allegedly participated in the scheme would pay as much as $15,000 for the fraudulent diplomas, officials said.
The defendants include “owners, operators and employees” of the schools who “prepared and sold fake nursing school diplomas and transcripts to nursing candidates, knowing that the candidates would use those false documents to one, sit for nursing board examinations, secure nursing licenses, and three ultimately obtain nursing jobs in medical facilities — not only in Florida, but elsewhere across the country,” Lapointe said. All three schools have since closed, according to officials. Additional defendants charged include “recruiters” to bring in would-be buyers.
The alleged scheme enabled these nursing candidates allegedly buying the fake diplomas “to avoid hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of clinical training — countless hours getting that experience,” Lapointe said. “These people didn’t go through that. That part was completely skipped.”
“For them, it was worth the investment, or the risk,” Aybar told ABC News.
For those involved — “the owners of the nursing schools, certainly the recruiters and, without doubt, the recipients of the transcripts and the nursing diplomas” — Aybar said, “It was definitely all motivated by greed.”
Federal law enforcement officials underscored the high stakes of the scheme, saying that it potentially jeopardized patients’ health and safety — and that standards for safe nursing care cannot be purchased — only learned.
“What is disturbing about the scheme is the possibility of harm coming to patients under the dubious care of one of these allegedly fraudulent nurses,” acting Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough, FBI Miami, said.
In the indictments, federal law enforcement officials alleged that the defendants — some in leadership roles at nursing schools — “solicited and recruited individuals who sought nursing credentials to gain employment as Registered Nurses (RN) or Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses (LPN/VN),” then arranged with co-conspirators “to create and distribute false and fraudulent diplomas and transcripts” to falsely represent that the aspiring nurses had attended the program and had completed the necessary courses to receive a diploma, when “in fact, the aspiring nurses had never actually completed the necessary courses and clinicals.”
Aybar said one of the ways officials were alerted to the alleged scheme was when the Florida state auditing process discovered poor passing rates at three nursing schools.
Alleged participants in the scheme backdated the diplomas and transcripts they were selling, to make them appear legitimate, authorities said. Applicants would use those forged diplomas, transcripts and additional records to obtain licensure in various states — then, once licensed, applicants could then use those fraudulent documents to get nursing jobs “with unwitting health care providers throughout the country,” according to officials.
Officials said they had “not learned of, nor uncovered any evidence of patient harm stemming from these individuals potentially providing services to patients” — but it was the potential for that harm to patients that was precisely the concern.
Aybar said that is why, from the onset of the investigation, authorities have been working with state licensing boards to share as much information as they could, as fast as they could, so the respective boards “can assess what actions to take to prevent these individuals from rendering care.”
The action by federal law enforcement comes at a crucial moment in the health care industry, where an existing nurse shortage, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has left many nursing staffs spread thin and burnt out.
“I’m confident that there will be a level of accountability that all of these individuals will face,” Aybar said.
Defendants in the alleged scheme, if convicted, face a statutory maximum of 20 years in jail for the charges of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, the DOJ said.
Aybar pointed to the pledge of ethics and principles that nurses take, called the “Nightingale Pledge.”
“They pledge that they’re going to abstain from any deleterious act. They will do all in their power to enhance and honor the profession. Clearly, these individuals did not do that here,” he said.
“We understand that this conduct has no reflection on the hard work and dedication that [nurses] put into making this profession honorable, and so thank you for that,” Aybar added. “I encourage those of you — if you’re in a setting and you happen to have someone that may not be practicing up to the standards as you understand it, maybe if you see something, say something.”
Officials said that at this point it is up to the state licensing boards to push forward with action against those individuals under their purview — some of whom have been practicing nursing “somewhere in the United States, perhaps currently,” Lapointe said.
“We know who they are,” Lapointe said.
“Not only is this a public safety issue, but it also tarnishes the reputation of nurses who actually did the hard clinical and coursework required to get licenses and jobs,” Lapointe said. “And of course, erodes the centuries-old trust we have built with our country’s nurses.”
(NEW YORK) — Nearly a year after Jared Bridegan, a Microsoft executive and father of four, was gunned down on a Florida road in what authorities called a targeted ambush, a suspect has been arrested in connection with his murder, police announced Wednesday.
Bridegan was driving with his then-2-year-old daughter in Jacksonville Beach on Feb. 16, 2022, when he came upon a tire blocking his path, police said. When he stepped out of the car he was “gunned down in cold blood,” Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said.
“This was a plan and a targeted ambush and murder,” Smith told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday announcing an arrest in the case.
Henry Tenon, 61, was arrested Wednesday on charges including conspiracy to commit murder, second-degree murder with a weapon and accessory after the fact to a capital felony.
“We know Henry Tenon did not act alone,” State Attorney Melissa Nelson said at the press briefing.
Tenon also faces a child abuse charge due to Bridegan’s 2-year-old, who was strapped in her car seat, being “directly in harm’s way” when he was fatally shot, Nelson said.
The identification of a Ford F-150 spotted around the crime scene at the time of the shooting led to the arrest, Smith said.
Tenon is scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning, after which prosecutors will seek an indictment for first-degree murder, Nelson said. It is unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
The state has obtained a court ordering sealing Tenon’s arrest warrant and affidavit for the next 30 days to “protect the integrity” of the investigation, Nelson said.
Bridegan was driving home after dropping off twins she shares with his ex-wife when he came upon the “purposefully placed” tire and was shot, Smith said. Nothing was stolen, he said.
Bridegan’s wife, Kirsten Bridegan, told ABC News last year that she believed the attack was targeted.
“Some coward trapped him and took him out and that’s not OK,” said his widow, who had two children with Bridegan — the then-2-year-old and a younger daughter who was home with his wife at the time of the shooting.
She described her husband as a creative, fun and loving father who would do anything for his four kids.
“He loved being a dad. He genuinely did,” she said. “He would spend hours setting up some activity that he thought would be awesome.”
ABC News’ Melissa Gaffney contributed to this report.
(BALTIMORE) — Baltimore County Public Schools failed to act on several state recommendations to help mitigate cyber attacks before a hack disrupted school operations and cost the school system millions of dollars in damages and repairs, according to a report from a state inspector general.
BCPS was hacked using a phishing email in November 2020 — a process that disrupted the school system’s website and remote learning programs for several days, according to the report from the Maryland Office of the Inspector General for Education.
The inspector general’s report found that the initial network compromise occurred 15 days before the network disruption and came in the form of an e-mail.
A teacher flagged the e-mail to the in-house tech support who forwarded the e-mail to a contracted tech support supervisor, according to the report.
“The OIGE investigation revealed that the contractor mistakenly opened the email with the attachment using their unsecured BCPS email domain account and not in their secured email domain. Consequently, opening the attachment in the unsecured environment served as the catalyst, which delivered the undetected malware into the BCPS IT network,” the report says.
The OIGE report says BCPS did not fully implement several network recommendations from the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits in recent audit reports, including the relocation of publicly accessible database servers and the adequate maintenance of internal network servers. BCPS has implemented an array of new network security measures since the cyber attack, the report says.
The report says the network upgrades and damages from the cyber attack cost BCPS nearly $10 million.
An investigation by the FBI and Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is ongoing, the report says.
BCPS did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.) — A 29-year-old New Jersey woman fraudulently posed as a high school student for several days after allegedly filing false documents, school officials and police said.
The incident was announced during a New Brunswick School Board meeting Tuesday night.
The woman attended New Brunswick High School for four days last week before staff uncovered the “ruse,” New Brunswick Public Schools Superintendent Aubrey Johnson said during the meeting. She was barred from district property and “all the appropriate authorities were immediately notified,” Johnson said.
“This is an unfortunate event,” he said.
The New Brunswick Police Department said Hyejeong Shin, of New Brunswick, was charged on Tuesday with one count of providing a false government document with the intent to verify one’s identity or age.
“Specifically, Ms. Shin provided a false birth certificate to the New Brunswick Board of Education with the intent to enroll as a juvenile high-school student,” the police department said in a statement.
Students in New Jersey are able to attend school on a provisional basis and have 30 days to confirm their identity before they’re declared ineligible to attend classes.
The woman gained provisional admittance to the high school last week after allegedly filing false documents last week, according to Johnson. Staff members discovered the “deception” during their vetting process, he said.
School officials contacted students who may have encountered the fake student, Johnson said.
“We have told our students to refrain from having any further contact with her either remotely or in person,” he said.
In light of the incident, the district is going to examine its enrollment processes to “better look for fake documentation,” he added.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office told ABC News it is not currently investigating the incident.
The New Brunswick Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for more information on the case, including a possible motive.
ABC News was unable to reach Shin or an attorney on her behalf.
(NEW YORK) — A Florida woman was arrested Wednesday for orchestrating a yearslong romance scam that defrauded an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.
Peaches Stergo began her alleged scheme in May 2017 and bilked the victim out of $2.8 million over the next four years, federal prosecutors said.
Stergo met the victim on a dating website and eventually asked him to borrow money to pay her lawyer, who she claimed was refusing to release funds from an injury settlement, according to the indictment. After the victim gave her the money, Stergo said the settlement funds had been deposited into her TD Bank account.
In reality, bank records show Stergo never received any money from an injury settlement.
The alleged lies continued over the next four years. Stergo is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
“Stergo deceived an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, maliciously draining his life savings so she could become a millionaire through fraud. Stergo forged documents and impersonated a bank employee in exchange for a life of fancy trips, Rolex watches, and luxury purchases,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
Stergo, 36, of Champions Gate, Florida, repeatedly demanded the victim deposit money into her bank accounts. She claimed that if he did not, her accounts would be frozen and he would never be paid back. In total, the victim wrote 62 checks — totaling more than $2.8 million — that were deposited into Stergo’s bank accounts, the indictment said.
While the victim lost his life savings and was forced to give up his apartment, prosecutors said Stergo lived a life of luxury with the millions she received from the fraud. She bought a home in a gated community, a condominium, a boat and numerous cars, including a Corvette and a Chevy Suburban.
During the course of the fraud, Stergo also took expensive trips, staying at places like the Ritz Carlton, and spent many tens of thousands of dollars on expensive meals, gold coins and bars, jewelry, Rolex watches and designer clothing from stores like Tiffany, Ralph Lauren, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton and Hermes, according to prosecutors and the FBI.
“Today we allege the defendant callously preyed on a senior citizen simply seeking companionship, defrauding him of his life savings,” the FBI’s Mike Driscoll said in a statement.
(HALF MOON BAY, Calif.) — The suspect in a deadly mass shooting at two Northern California farms will be charged with seven counts of murder, the local district attorney said.
The alleged gunman, 66-year-old Chunli Zhao, is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Wednesday with an arraignment hearing at 1:30 p.m. local time.
Ahead of the hearing, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told ABC News he will be filing a felony complaint on Wednesday against Zhao consisting of seven counts of murder, as well as one count of attempted murder, firearm use enhancements and a count of special circumstance allegation of multiple murder.
Seven people were fatally shot at two nurseries in Half Moon Bay on Monday. An eighth shooting victim was hospitalized in stable condition as of Tuesday evening, authorities said.
Workplace violence is believed to be the motive, authorities said. Zhao worked at one of the shooting locations, Mountain Mushroom Farm, but it’s unclear what connection he may have had with the victims beyond being co-workers, authorities said.
All victims are thought to be workers at the nurseries and were of Asian and Hispanic descent, authorities said.
Zhao was arrested on Monday when the sheriff’s office located his vehicle in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s Office Half Moon Bay Police Substation, the department said.
A semi-automatic handgun was found in the suspect’s car that had been legally purchased, authorities said.
Zhao is believed to have acted alone, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said.
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — Abigail Zwerner, the teacher who was shot by a student in a classroom in Newport News, Virginia, earlier this month intends to file a lawsuit against the school board, her lawyer said Wednesday, alleging the shooting could have been prevented by school administrators.
Zwerner sustained a gunshot wound to the chest when a 6-year-old student brought a gun into a classroom at Richneck Elementary School and intentionally shot and wounded her, according to police. A bullet remains lodged in her body, according to Diane Toscano, Zwerner’s lawyer.
“This should have never happened. It was preventable and thank God Abby is alive. But had the school administrators acted in the interest of their teachers and their students, Abby would not have sustained a gunshot wound to the chest,” Toscano said at a press conference Wednesday.
Toscano revealed new details about the events leading up to the shooting, alleging that school administration was warned that the student had a gun with him at school and had threatened people several times the day of the shooting, but school administrators took no action.
Toscano alleged that the administration was warned four times by teachers and school employees that the unnamed student “had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people.”
Toscano laid out a timeline of events the day of the shooting:
At around 11:15 to 11:30 a.m., Zwerner went to a school administrator and told them that the 6-year-old had threatened to beat up another child that day. The administration did not take action or remove the student from the classroom, according to Toscano.
At 12:30 p.m. a teacher told a school administrator she searched the 6-year-old’s backpack for a gun and told the administration that she believed the boy put the gun in his pocket before going outside for recess. The administrator downplayed the report and responded that the boy has little pockets, according to Toscano.
Shortly after 1 p.m., a third teacher told administrators that another student who was scared and crying confessed that the shooter showed him a gun at recess and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone, according to Toscano.
A fourth employee asked the administrator for permission to search the boy but was denied and was told to wait the situation out because the school day was almost over, according to Toscano.
Zwerner was shot almost an hour later, according to Toscano.
She is now home recovering, “but the road to recovery will be long,” Toscano said.
The press conference came hours before the Virginia public school system is set to decide the fate of its superintendent.
The Newport News School Board has called a special meeting for Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET to vote on a separation agreement with Newport News Public Schools Superintendent George Parker III and the appointment of an interim superintendent.
Parker has been under fire from teachers, parents and community members since the shooting. The boy, who has not been named publicly, allegedly took a handgun from his home, put it in his backpack and brought it to school that day before shooting his teacher in an “intentional” act, according to the Newport News Police Department.
Police said Zwerner was giving class instruction that afternoon when the student pointed the gun at her and fired one round. The teacher took a defensive position, raising her hand. The bullet went through her hand and into her chest, police said.
There was no physical struggle or fight, according to police.
After Zwerner was shot, she ushered all of her students out of the classroom. She was the last person to leave the room, police said.
About 16 to 20 students were in the classroom at the time of the shooting and none of them were physically injured, according to police.
Police said responding officers found a school employee physically restraining the 6-year-old suspect in the classroom. The boy allegedly hit the school employee before officers took him into custody. He was subsequently taken to a local hospital for evaluation, police said.
Since then, a temporary detention order has been obtained and the child is currently receiving treatment at a medical facility, according to police.
Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew has called Zwerner a “hero” who “saved lives.” He told reporters that the teacher has repeatedly asked how her students are doing.
Zwerner was released from Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News last week and will continue to receive outpatient treatment, according to Riverside Health System.
Police said the investigation into the Jan. 6 incident, including a motive, is ongoing and no one has been charged so far. Richneck Elementary School has remained closed in the meantime.
The 9 mm Taurus pistol used in the shooting was legally purchased by the boy’s mother, according to police.
During a town hall meeting with parents earlier this month, Parker said the student’s backpack was searched at school the morning of Jan. 6, after someone reported he may have had a weapon. The person who searched the backpack didn’t find a weapon, according to the superintendent. It was unclear who conducted the search or how the tip about the weapon was received.
When asked for comment, a police spokesperson told ABC News: “We have determined through our investigation that a school employee was notified of a possible firearm at Richneck Elementary before the shooting occurred. The Newport News Police Department was not notified of this information prior to the incident. I cannot release any further information at this time because of the ongoing investigation.”
Earlier this month, Newport News School Board Chair Lisa Surles-Law said they have been given approval to purchase 90 walk-through metal detectors, which will be installed in every school across the district, starting with Richneck Elementary School. The district will also bolster protocols on handling school violence, including implementing a safety stand down and reviewing student conduct and discipline records, according to Surles-Law.
The unnamed family of the boy released a statement last week, saying the “firearm our son accessed was secured” and that he “suffers from an acute disability and was under a care plan at the school that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day.”
“The week of the shooting was the first week when we were not in class with him. We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives,” the family said. “Since this incident, our son has been under hospital care and receiving the treatment he needs.”
The boy’s family called the shooting “horrific” and noted that they “have been cooperating with local and federal law enforcement to understand how this could have happened.”
“Our heart goes out to our son’s teacher and we pray for her healing in the aftermath of such an unimaginable tragedy as she selflessly served our son and the children in the school,” they added. “She has worked diligently and compassionately to support our family as we sought the best education and learning environment for our son. We thank her for her courage, grace and sacrifice.”
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Caroline Guthrie, Davone Morales, Emily Shapiro and Ben Siu contributed to this report.
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — A Virginia public school system is set to decide the fate of its superintendent on Wednesday evening, after police say a 6-year-old student brought a gun into the classroom and intentionally shot his teacher.
The Newport News School Board has called a special meeting for Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET to vote on a separation agreement with Newport News Public Schools Superintendent George Parker III and the appointment of an interim superintendent.
Parker has been under fire from teachers, parents and community members since Jan. 6, when a first-grade student allegedly shot and wounded 25-year-old teacher Abigail Zwerner in a classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, a shipbuilding city near Virginia’s coast. The boy, who has not been named publicly, allegedly took a handgun from his home, put it in his backpack and brought it to school that day before shooting his teacher in an “intentional” act, according to the Newport News Police Department.
Police said Zwerner was giving class instruction that afternoon when the student pointed the gun at her and fired one round. The teacher took a defensive position, raising her hand. The bullet went through her hand and into her chest, police said.
There was no physical struggle or fight, according to police.
After Zwerner was shot, she ushered all of her students out of the classroom. She was the last person to leave the room, police said.
About 16 to 20 students were in the classroom at the time of the shooting and none of them were physically injured, according to police.
Police said responding officers found a school employee physically restraining the 6-year-old suspect in the classroom. The boy allegedly hit the school employee before officers took him into custody. He was subsequently taken to a local hospital for evaluation, police said.
Since then, a temporary detention order has been obtained and the child is currently receiving treatment at a medical facility, according to police.
Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew has called Zwerner a “hero” who “saved lives.” He told reporters that the teacher has repeatedly asked how her students are doing.
Zwerner was released from Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News last week and will continue to receive outpatient treatment, according to Riverside Health System.
Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano, is expected to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. ET to provide updates on the teacher’s recovery, new information about the shooting and what their next steps will be, according to Hampton ABC affiliate WVEC-TV.
The investigation into the incident, including a motive, is ongoing and no one has been charged so far. Richneck Elementary School has remained closed in the meantime.
The 9 mm Taurus pistol used in the shooting was legally purchased by the boy’s mother, according to police.
Parker, the superintendent, told a town hall meeting with parents earlier this month that the student’s backpack was searched at school the morning of Jan. 6, after someone reported he may have had a weapon. The person who searched the backpack didn’t find a weapon, according to Parker. It was unclear who conducted the search or how the tip about the weapon was received.
When asked for comment, a police spokesperson told ABC News: “We have determined through our investigation that a school employee was notified of a possible firearm at Richneck Elementary before the shooting occurred. The Newport News Police Department was not notified of this information prior to the incident. I cannot release any further information at this time because of the ongoing investigation.”
Earlier this month, Newport News School Board Chair Lisa Surles-Law said they have been given approval to purchase 90 walk-through metal detectors, which will be installed in every school across the district, starting with Richneck Elementary School. The district will also bolster protocols on handling school violence, including implementing a safety stand down and reviewing student conduct and discipline records, according to Surles-Law.
The unnamed family of the boy released a statement last week, saying the “firearm our son accessed was secured” and that he “suffers from an acute disability and was under a care plan at the school that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day.”
“The week of the shooting was the first week when we were not in class with him. We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives,” the family said. “Since this incident, our son has been under hospital care and receiving the treatment he needs.”
The boy’s family called the shooting “horrific” and noted that they “have been cooperating with local and federal law enforcement to understand how this could have happened.”
“Our heart goes out to our son’s teacher and we pray for her healing in the aftermath of such an unimaginable tragedy as she selflessly served our son and the children in the school,” they added. “She has worked diligently and compassionately to support our family as we sought the best education and learning environment for our son. We thank her for her courage, grace and sacrifice.”
