Bodycam Footage Released in 2023 Newport News Elementary Shooting by 6-Year-Old

The footage captures the boy, identified as J.T., after the shooting, cursing at officers and stating he stole the gun to shoot his teacher. Reading specialist Amy Kovac restrained him while the weapon, containing seven additional rounds, lay on the floor. Zwerner was treated for wounds to her hand and chest and later secured a $10 million civil judgment against an assistant principal who received prior warnings. Court records detail the mother's guilty plea to felony child neglect and federal charges for false statements on the firearm purchase form after marijuana was found in the home. She received a two-year sentence. The child faced no prosecution due to age; charges against the assistant principal were dismissed. The incident highlights documented failures in firearm storage and school response protocols rather than broader community attributions. Primary records show the gun was unsecured on a dresser and accessible to the child that morning. No further institutional changes to child access prevention laws have been recorded at the state level since the sentencing.