NEWPORT NEWS (WAVY) — Court documents are revealing what life may have been like at home for the six-year-old who shot and seriously injured his first grade teacher at Richneck Elementary back in January.
The boy’s mother, Deja Taylor, pleaded guilty earlier this week to federal drug and gun charges not directly related to the shooting.
Included in the statement of facts signed by Taylor and her attorneys, prosecutors charged that days after the Richneck shooting, a search turned up “copious amounts of marijuana” in Taylor’s trash can, as well as narcotics packaging in her room.
“The government is painting a picture of Ms. Taylor’s dishonesty and child neglect,” said Billy Jackson, a former federal prosecutor who is not working on Taylor’s case.
The document goes on to reveal what happened when Taylor, her son and the boy’s father were pulled over in Williamsburg two years ago. During the traffic stop, officers found marijuana and marijuana edibles in the car. Officers described some of them as looking like “rice treats” which were found right next to the little boy. That description could have been intentional, Jackson told 10 On Your Side.
“Describing the edibles as looking like rice crispy treats, like something tempting for a child to grab and eat. The child at the time was four – two years younger than when this child shot that teacher,” Jackson said.
