Body cam footage released of 6-year-old shooting his teacher at Virginia’s Richneck Elementary in 2023

The footage was recorded by Newport News officer Brian Torrez and obtained by The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press. It was introduced by prosecutors during the May trial of former Richneck assistant principal Ebony Parker, who faces eight felony counts of child neglect related to the shooting.

In the video, the six-year-old boy, identified in court documents as JT, can be heard swearing at reading specialist Amy Kovac as she held him, and at officers who entered the classroom.

“The gun is there,” Kovac told officers. “He just admitted that he had one … he had one bullet.”

The handgun actually contained additional rounds, but it had jammed. A sheriff’s deputy located the firearm on the floor near the boy.

“I got a weapon,” the deputy said.

The boy then became verbally aggressive toward the officers, saying, “Both y’all want a f*cking piece of me, b*tch?!”

When Kovac, who was holding the child, told him to stop, the boy replied, “F*ck you, b*tch.”

Kovac explained to officers that she had previously told the assistant principal there was a threat. She called 911 once she heard a gunshot.

“I’m the reading specialist. I came down the hall. She had blood,” Kovac told police.

At one point, an officer asked another officer whether they had small handcuffs to be used on the child. When an officer asked the boy’s name, he replied: “If you want a piece of me, come get it on, b*tch.”

“I don’t care if you call backup. I don’t care if I go to jail, b*tch,” the child said.

The shooting occurred on January, 6, 2023, when the boy brought his mother’s 9mm handgun to the school in his backpack. He subsequently pulled out the firearm and shot his teacher, Abby Zwerner, while she was sitting at a reading table.

Zwerner was struck in the hand and chest. She survived the shooting and later filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school.

Parker, who was an assistant principal at the time, was accused of failing to adequately respond to concerns about the child prior to the shooting. The child’s mother was also criminally prosecuted and sentenced to two years in prison.