(CHICAGO) — In a face-off on Tuesday with a federal judge, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol commander-at-large Greg Bovino came under questioning about the crowd-control tactics he and his agents are using in their Chicago immigration crackdown.
With Bovino appearing before her dressed in uniform, Judge Sara Ellis of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ordered him to meet with her in person each weekday at 6 p.m. local time, to report to her on the immigration activities in Chicago that he is spearheading.
Bovino was on the witness stand for slightly more than an hour Tuesday morning, as Ellis considered allegations from the plaintiffs of multiple violations of a temporary restraining order (TRO) she issued this month, placing restrictions on the use of force and riot control weapons against demonstrators.
Ellis did the vast majority of the talking during the hearing, including an oral recitation of each provision of her temporary restraining order that she first issued on Oct. 9, requiring federal agents to issue advanced warnings when deploying tear gas.
The judge expanded the order on Oct. 16 to include a requirement for federal agents equipped with body-worn cameras to wear them and keep them on during “law enforcement activities” in Chicago.
“My role is simply to see that in the enforcement of those laws that you and the agents operating under you are acting in a manner that is consistent with your obligations under the law, meaning that it is consistent with the Constitution, that it is consistent with the law … and the TRO that I entered,” she said.
“That is my job and that is all that I am doing,” Ellis told Bovino as the hearing got underway.
Ellis ordered Bovino to appear before her following allegations that he had personally deployed tear gas on a crowd of demonstrators “without justification” last week, according to court filings in a lawsuit against the federal government.
Ellis indicated in a hearing earlier this month that she was “profoundly concerned” over the tactics used by federal agents in a series of clashes with protesters.
She issued a temporary restraining order on Oct. 9, restricting federal agents from using aggressive tactics to quell protests, including the deployment of tear gas without advanced warning.
On Oct. 17, Ellis expanded her order to include a requirement for federal agents equipped with body-worn cameras to wear them and keep them on during “law enforcement activities” in Chicago.
Ellis is presiding over a lawsuit brought by journalists and citizens against the federal government over the immigration enforcement tactics in Chicago.
The plaintiffs argue that the government is “engineering their own pretext for their presence and behavior in Chicago” by “regularly inflicting harm on civilians who are simply protesting” the immigration enforcement operation.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — House Oversight Republicans released a blistering report Tuesday morning that details their findings into former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity and his use of the autopen — calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to examine all executive actions taken during the prior administration, as well as scrutinize the actions of three senior officials who refused to comply with the panel’s closed-door interviews for fear of criminal prosecution.
Democrats quickly dismissed the report as a “sham” — with Biden’s post-presidency office calling it “baseless.”
The 100-page report includes links to transcripts and video of their closed-door depositions conducted with 14 top Biden administration officials, including three senior officials — Anthony Bernal, Annie Tomasini and Dr. Kevin O’Connor — who invoked their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves rather than answer the committee’s questions.
The committee previously released videos of those three officials declining to testify following their respective depositions. Other aides repeatedly defended Biden’s mental fitness, maintaining that he was mentally engaged in the decision-making process in the White House.
“The Biden Autopen Presidency will go down as one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history,” Oversight Chairman James Comer said in a statement.
Comer claimed Biden’s inner circle “sought to deceive the public” and conceal “his decline.” He said the report reveals how several of Biden’s aides “colluded to mislead the public and the extraordinary measures they took to sustain the appearance of presidential authority as Biden’s capacity to function independently diminished.”
A Biden spokesperson criticized the report, claiming there was no wrongdoing at the Biden White House.
“This investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start: President Biden made the decisions of his presidency. There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, and no wrongdoing,” the Biden spokesperson said. “Congressional Republicans should stop focusing on political retribution and instead work to end the government shutdown.”
Biden has previously defended the use of autopen.
“The autopen is, you know, is legal. As you know, other presidents used it, including Trump. But the point is that, you know, we’re talking about a whole lot of people,” Biden said.
Comer said that executive actions performed by Biden White House staff and signed by autopen should be “null and void.”
“We have provided Americans with transparency about the Biden Autopen Presidency, and now there must be accountability,” Comer stated.
Comer’s comments echo some of President Donald Trump’s remarks about Biden’s use of autopen — including saying that the pardons Biden approved should be voided because they were signed using an autopen. Trump has said he has used an autopen for some trivial matters, but criticized its use for pardons.
The House committee claimed it found “substantial evidence” that Biden “experienced significant mental and physical decline during his presidency,” while senior White House officials “actively sought to conceal his deterioration from the public.”
Bondi said in a Tuesday post on X that her staff has “already initiated a review of the Biden administration’s reported use of autopen for pardons” and called the report “extremely helpful.”
Speaker Mike Johnson commented on the report Tuesday morning, repeating Comer’s calls to void “every executive action signed by the autopen without written authorization from President Biden.”
“This is an unprecedented situation in American politics and government,” Johnson said Tuesday when asked whether documents signed by the autopen on Biden’s behalf should be “null and void,” as the report concluded. “There is no legal precedent because no previous president … had the audacity to have people signing things on their behalf when they didn’t even know what was in it.”
Oversight Democrats have dismissed the investigation throughout the monthslong probe — complaining about the GOP’s “obsession” with the former president.
“Despite this sham investigation, every White House official testified President Biden fully executed his duties as President of the United States. The testimonies also make it clear the former President authorized every executive order, pardon, and use of the autopen,” House Oversight Ranking Member Robert Garcia said in a statement to ABC News.
House Oversight Democrats released a short 14-page counter report on Tuesday — arguing that the Republicans have “failed to produce any evidence to support their allegations against President Biden.”
Trump has continued to criticize and troll Biden’s use of the autopen — even hanging a picture of an autopen signing Biden’s signature alongside portraits of past presidents in the new Presidential Walk of Fame on the White House West Colonnade.
The committee also sent a letter to Dr. Andrea Anderson, chair of the District of Columbia Board of Medicine, calling on her to investigate whether the actions of O’Connor, Biden’s White House physician, should disqualify him from future practice in the nation’s capital.
“Based on the nature and extent of Dr. O’Connor’s actions, the Committee recommends that the Board of Medicine impose discipline, sanction, or revocation of his medical license,” the letter states. “If Dr. O’Connor failed to meet his minimum standard of care to the president, intentionally misled the American public, or authored false health reports on President Biden, then the Committee believes Dr. O’Connor should be barred from the practice of medicine in the District of Columbia.”
ABC News has reached out to O’Connor’s lawyer for comment.
When O’Connor spoke before the committee, his lawyer, David Schertler, said in a statement that the doctor “asserted the physician-patient privilege, as well as his right under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in declining to answer questions from the staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding his service as Physician to the President during the Biden Administration.”
Oversight Republicans also knocked Democrats for passive participation in the investigation — clocking the total time of their questioning to “only about 3 hours and 30 minutes’ worth of questions” over nearly 47 hours of depositions and transcribed interviews.
This ABC News graphic shows the forecast for Hurricane Melissa as of Oct. 28, 2025. (ABC)
(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday afternoon as a Category 5 hurricane — one of the most powerful hurricane landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.
Here is Melissa’s projected path:
The hurricane-force winds began in western Jamaica on Tuesday morning and will last until the evening.
Around 1 p.m. ET, Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica near New Hope with estimated maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. This is considered an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation; people in Jamaica are urged to shelter in place.
The worst storm surge will be on the western half of the island, where 9 to 13 feet of surge will inundate the coast. On the northwest side of the island, the Montego Bay area could see 2 to 4 feet of storm surge above ground level. The capital city of Kingston will see damaging storm surge, but not the worst.
Heavy rain will inundate the entire island, with totals of 15 to 30 inches expected, and some areas seeing up to 40 inches. The rain will likely spark catastrophic flash flooding and landslides.
Jamaicans should be prepared for extensive infrastructure damage and long-lasting power outages.
Southeast Cuba will feel hurricane-force winds Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. Cuba is forecast to see 7 to 11 feet of storm surge, up to 25 inches of rain, and potentially landslides and catastrophic flash flooding.
The southeast Bahamas and Turks and Caicos will feel the impacts of Hurricane Melissa on Wednesday. Four to 6 feet of storms surge is expected along with 5 to 10 inches of rain.
Melissa will still be a hurricane by the time it passes near Bermuda on Friday morning.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) talks to reporters on the 27th day of the federal government shutdown in the Rayburn Room at the U.S. Capitol on October 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday that he does not “see the path” for President Donald Trump to seek a third term.
“It’s been a great run, but I think the president knows, and he and I have talked about, the constrictions of the Constitution, as much as so many of the American people lament that,” Johnson said during a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Johnson said he had spoken to Trump Tuesday morning. The president is currently in Japan for a three-country tour through Asia.
“I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution because it takes about 10 years to do that,” Johnson, a constitutional lawyer, said. “As you all know, to allow all the states to ratify what two-thirds of the House and three-fourths of the states would approve. So I don’t, I don’t see the path for that, but I can tell you that we are not going to take our foot off the gas pedal.”
Trump has commented multiple times about a third term, despite it being barred by the Constitution. The 22nd Amendment explicitly states no person should be elected to the nation’s highest office more than twice.
On Monday, Trump said he would “love to do it” when asked about a potential 2028 bid.
“Am I not ruling it out? You’ll have to tell me,” Trump said when pressed on the matter. “All I can tell you is that we have a great, a great group of people, which they don’t,” he added, referring to the Democratic Party.
Last week, Steve Bannon — a former Trump adviser — said in an interview with The Economist that there “is a plan” to get Trump a third term, but didn’t provide details.
The official merchandise website of the Trump Organization has been selling hats that say “Trump 2028” since earlier this year.
Johnson on Tuesday argued though that the Trump 2028 hat “is one of the most popular that’s ever been produced,” but suggested it was a move to provoke Democrats.
The speaker said Trump has “a good time with that trolling the Democrats, whose hair is on fire by the very prospect. But I do believe that we’ve got three extraordinary years ahead of us.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
Tourists queue to enter the Louvre on October 26, 2025 in Paris, France. Antoine Gyori – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
(PARIS) — As a deadline fast approaches to either charge to release two suspects in the $102 million Louvre jewel heist, the president of France’s Senate Culture Committee said the museum is “not up to standard” for guarding it against other bandits.
The Paris prosecutor has until Wednesday to decide whether to file charges when a 96-hour window expires on holding two French nationals arrested over the weekend, just as they were about to flee the country.
As the massive manhunt for at least two other perpetrators in the brazen robbery stretched into its 10th day, Laurent Lafon, president of the Senate Culture Committee, said the Oct. 19 jewel heist at the museum exposed major flaws in its security.
“We have a security system that does not meet what we would expect from a museum,” Lafon said on Tuesday while standing outside the world’s most visited museum.
Lafon said “numerous improvements need to be made” to correct flaws that enable a team of thieves to steal precious pieces of the French crown jewels and other treasures once belonging to Emperor Napoleon and his wife.
“The security equipment was not suitable for a museum worthy of the 21st century and for such a unique site for France. It is our flagship institution; it must be exemplary, and today, we cannot describe the security conditions as exemplary,” Lafon said.
Lafon spoke out ahead of a Wednesday hearing on the museum’s security issues.
In what appeared to be an intricately planned robbery, a team of thieves drove up to the side of the museum in what police described as a stolen truck with a “mobile freight elevator” or cherry picker on the back that was extended up to a window, according to the Paris police.
Two of the thieves dressed as construction workers used the cherry picker to get up to the second floor, where they cut through the window of the Apollo Gallery using angle grinders, authorities said. Upon entering the gilded gallery, the thieves used power tools to cut into the glass cases to reach the precious jewels, investigators said.
The entire theft took about seven minutes, according to investigators.
Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau estimated that $102 million worth of jewels were stolen, including crowns, necklaces, earrings and a diamond-encrusted brooch.
Over the weekend, police arrested two men, both in their 30s and from the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, French National Police confirmed to ABC News.
Investigators said they matched trace DNA evidence recovered from a helmet left at the scene of the crime to one of the suspects, enabling police to put the alleged thief under phone and physical surveillance.
One suspect was arrested at 10 p.m. on Saturday at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to board a plane bound for Algeria, according to police.
The second suspect was nabbed by police as he was about to travel to Mali, in West Africa, an investigator with the Paris Brigade for the Repression of Banditry (BRB), the special police unit spearheading the probe, and a source with the French Interior Ministry directly connected to the investigation told ABC News.
One of the suspects has dual citizenship in France and Mali, and the other is a dual citizen of France and Algeria, investigators said, adding that both were already known to police from past burglary cases.
Investigators say they’re still determining whether a source inside the Louvre may have had a role in the theft.
“They knew exactly where they were going. It looks like something very organized and very professional,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati told ABC News last week.
While testifying before France’s Senate Culture Committee on Wednesday, Laurence des Cars, president and director of the Louvre, described the heist as “an immense wound that has been inflicted on us.”
Des Cars said all of the museum’s alarms worked properly, as did its video cameras, but noted a “weakness” in security that was taken advantage of by the thieves. She said the only camera installed outside the Apollo Gallery was facing west and did not cover the window where the thieves broke in and exited.
“The weakness of the Louvre is its perimeter security, which has been a problem for a long time … certainly due to underinvestment,” des Cars told the lawmakers.
Des Cars said a “Grand Louvre renovation project” began 40 years ago “and has only affected half of the museum.”
“We did not spot the criminals arriving from outside early enough,” des Cars said.
“The security system, as installed in the Apollo Gallery, worked perfectly,” des Cars said. “The question that arises is how to adapt this system to a new type of attack and modus operandi that we could not have foreseen.”
In this handout image released by the U.S. Air Force, a A U.S. Air Force Reserve crew from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, known as the “Hurricane Hunters,” flies through Hurricane Melissa on October 27, 2025 over the Caribbean Sea. Lt. Col. Mark Withee/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, known as the “Hurricane Hunters,” encountered heavier than normal turbulence while flying into the eye of Hurricane Melissa on Tuesday morning and were forced to turn back.
The team is now returning to its operating location in Curacao after experiencing “forces stronger than normal” that warranted a safety inspection before they could continue, the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron wrote on social media.
A similar situation arose on Monday, when a “Hurricane Hunters” flight “left the storm early” after experiencing severe turbulence on Monday as well, the National Hurricane Center said.
Despite being forced to return once on Monday, the Air Force shared jaw-dropping video as the “Hurricane Hunters” flew into the eye of the storm multiple times over the course of the day.
Melissa has a “well-defined” 10 nautical mile wide eye, according to the NHC.
The storm is expected to hit Jamaica on Tuesday and is forecast to be the worst storm in the island’s history.
The storm, which has near-record-breaking winds of 185 mph on Tuesday morning, is now moving at 9 mph as it approaches the western part of the island.
Melissa is expected to bring catastrophic winds, rain, flooding and storm surge.
Melissa is then forecast to cross eastern Cuba on Tuesday night or early Wednesday, and then move near or over the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos on Wednesday, according to the NHC. The hurricane could reach the vicinity of Bermuda on Thursday night.
(NEW YORK) — New York’s intermediate appellate court should overturn President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money convictions because his trial was “fatally marred” by faulty evidence and overseen by a judge who should have recused himself, his attorneys argued in a court filing late Monday.
Trump’s formal appeal, 17 months after a Manhattan jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts, asks the Appellate Division’s First Department to reverse what his lawyers call the “most politically charged prosecution in our Nation’s history.”
Trump was found guilty in May 2024 after a six-week trial over a scheme to conceal a $130,000 payment his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her from talking about a long-denied affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump reimbursed Cohen in monthly installments that prosecutors said amounted to falsified records.
“The DA, a Democrat, brought those charges in the middle of a contentious Presidential election in which President Trump was the leading Republican candidate. These charges against President Trump were as unprecedented as their political context,” Trump’s attorneys at the white shoe law firm Sullivan & Cromwell wrote in their appeal.
Under New York state law, falsifying business records becomes a felony if the records were falsified to commit or conceal another crime. The appeal accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of trying to “twist New York law” to persuade the jury that Trump violated election statutes.
“Targeting alleged conduct that has never been found to violate any New York law, the DA concocted a purported felony by stacking time-barred misdemeanors under a convoluted legal theory, which the DA then improperly obscured until the charge conference. This case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom, let alone resulted in a conviction,” the appeal argued.
Leaning into a decision by the Supreme Court made after the trial that limited the use of evidence related to a president’s “official acts,” Trump’s lawyers also argued the New York Judge Juan Merchan erred by allowing evidence protected by presidential immunity. According to Trump’s lawyers, testimony from Trump’s former communications director Hope Hicks — later described by prosecutors as “devastating” for Trump — as well as evidence taken from his Twitter account and other protected conversations were improperly considered by the jury.
“The trial was fatally marred by the introduction of official Presidential acts that the Supreme Court has made clear cannot be used as evidence against a President,” the appeal said.
The appeal also took aim at Judge Merchan, arguing that a $15 donation he made to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and another $20 in donations to Democratic-aligned organizations demonstrated political bias. Before the trial, the New York State Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics concluded that those donations — as well as Merchan’s daughter’s work for a digital ad agency that worked with Democratic officials — did not create a conflict for Merchan.
Following Trump’s conviction, Judge Merchan, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration, sentenced him to an unconditional discharge — the lightest possible punishment allowed under New York state law — saying it was the “only lawful sentence” to prevent “encroaching upon the highest office in the land.”
Lufthansa plane is seen at the airport in Balice near Krakow, Poland on August 28, 2025. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(BOSTON) — A Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Germany was diverted to Boston Saturday after a man allegedly stabbed two passengers with a metal fork, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Indian national Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli, 28, allegedly stabbed two unidentified 17-year-old passengers with the fork, one in the shoulder and one in the head, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Following meal service, Minor A was sleeping lightly in a middle seat when he allegedly awoke to see Usiripalli standing over him,” the press release said. “It is alleged that Usiripalli used his right hand to strike Minor A in the left clavicle area with a metal fork. Usiripalli then allegedly lunged toward Minor B – who was seated to Minor A’s right in a middle seat in the center row of the aircraft – and struck Minor B in the back of his head with the fork. Minor B suffered a laceration to the rear of his head.”
“When flight crew members attempted to subdue Usiripalli, he allegedly raised his hand, formed a gun with his fingers, put it in his mouth and pulled an imaginary trigger. Immediately afterwards, Usiripalli allegedly turned toward a female passenger to his left and slapped her with his hand. Usiripalli also allegedly attempted to slap a flight crew member,” according to the press release.
“As a result of the disturbance, the flight was diverted to Boston Logan International Airport, where Usiripalli was immediately taken into custody,” the press release said.
Usiripalli was charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm while traveling on an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, according to the press release.
Lufthansa said in a statement that the flight diversion “was necessitated by the behavior of an unruly passenger, who was taken into custody by local authorities upon arrival. Consequently, the onward flight to Frankfurt did not continue as scheduled.” The statement added that “all passengers were provided with hotel accommodations and were rebooked on the next available flights.”
Usiripalli was in the U.S. on a student visa for a master’s program in biblical studies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if found guilty, the press release said, adding that Usiripalli will appear in federal court in Boston on an as-yet undetermined date.
ABC News’ Ayesha Ali and Clara McMichael contributed to this report.
An exterior view of PPG Paints Arena before the game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vegas Golden Knights at PPG PAINTS Arena on December 1, 2022 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
(PITTSBURGH) — A hockey fan was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after falling from the upper level of the arena during a Pittsburgh Penguins game on Monday, according to the team and local public safety officials.
On Monday at approximately 7:15 p.m., officials were alerted that an individual had fallen from the 200 level of PPG Paints Arena during the Penguins-Blues game, the Pittsburgh Public Safety Department said in a statement.
During the fall, the individual — identified as an adult male — struck another fan who was in the suite below before continuing to fall to the 100 level of the stadium, officials said.
“He was like, teetering a little bit, and then he fell forward. Somehow, he just kept sailing over the seats, and I think his head hit the Plexiglas, or safety glass, and shattered it,” Todd Derr, another game attendee, told Pittsburgh ABC affiliate WTAE.
Paramedics responded immediately and located the patient, who was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, officials said.
The person who was struck by the falling fan during the incident was “evaluated by paramedics on scene and declined transport to the hospital,” officials said.
Detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the fall, officials said, with the Penguins and OVG Management Group also “closely monitoring the situation.”
After the game, Penguins coach Dan Muse said his “thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”
“Obviously we all come here for a sport and a game and you hear something like that and that puts everything else aside,” Muse said on Monday night.
The status of the man’s condition as of Tuesday was not immediately clear.
The incident comes after a 20-year-old man fell 20 feet onto the outfield warning track during a Pittsburgh Pirates game in April. The man’s friend, 21, was charged for allegedly providing alcohol to the underage fan who fell from the bleachers onto the field during the seventh inning of the Pirates-Cubs game on April 30.
Abby Zwerner attends a hearing for a civil lawsuit she filed against the Newport News Public Schools, Oct. 27, 2023, in Newport News, Va./ (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — A civil trial is underway in Virginia nearly three years after a then-6-year-old student shot his first grade teacher in an elementary school classroom.
The teacher, Abby Zwerner, is seeking $40 million over the January 2023 shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, according to the civil complaint.
The complaint alleges that the school’s assistant principal at the time, Ebony Parker, failed to act after being informed multiple times the student had a firearm on the day of the shooting.
The student took the firearm out of his pocket and aimed it at Zwerner while she was seated in the classroom, according to the complaint. The bullet went through her hand and then into her chest, and Zwerner was initially hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.
Opening statements took place Tuesday morning in the civil trial, which has been scheduled to run through Nov. 6, according to the online docket.
ABC News has reached out to Parker’s attorney for comment but did not receive a response. Zwerner’s attorneys told ABC News they are not providing any comments during the trial.
Three other defendants initially listed in Zwerner’s complaint — two other school administrators and the Newport News School Board — have since been dismissed from the lawsuit.
Parker has also been charged with eight counts of felony child abuse with disregard for life in connection with the shooting — one count for each bullet that was in the gun, according to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. A trial on the criminal charges is scheduled to start next month.
Parker resigned from her position shortly after the incident.
The civil complaint alleges Parker’s administrative style was to “permit students to engage in dangerous and disruptive conduct and impose no consequence for breaking the rules, thereby placing all persons in the vicinity of the school and in the community at risk.”
On the day of the shooting, two students told a school staffer that the 6-year-old student had a gun in his backpack, according to the complaint. When confronted, the student reportedly denied it but refused to provide the staffer with his backpack, according to the complaint.
During recess that day, Zwerner told the staffer she saw the student “take something out of his backpack before recess and place it into the pocket of his hoodie sweatshirt,” according to the complaint. The staffer searched the backpack during recess but did not find a gun, according to the complaint. When the staffer reportedly told Parker the student had “informed students that he had a gun” and no weapon was found in his backpack, Parker “did nothing,” the complaint alleged.
According to the complaint, a classmate told another first grade teacher that the 6-year-old student had shown him the firearm during recess. After the teacher reported this to the school office, Parker allegedly did not allow anyone to search the student for the firearm, according to the complaint. Within an hour, the student shot Zwerner, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges Parker acted with gross negligence and in “reckless disregard” for Zwerner’s safety.
Zwerner said she has undergone multiple surgeries following the shooting, and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression and has nightmares stemming from the incident.
Zwerner told Hampton, Virginia, ABC affiliate WVEC in an interview a year after the shooting she does not think she will be able to teach again due to the “anxiety, the PTSD and the fear.”
The student brought the gun from home, police said. His mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect in connection with the shooting, which she is currently serving. Taylor was also sentenced to 21 months in prison on federal firearm and drug charges, which she has since served.
