You may have come across this video of a 6-year-old who shot and almost killed his teacher:

The Virginian-Pilot obtained the video from Officer Brian Torrez’s camera after a court order unsealed it. On the tape, reading specialist Amy Kovac is holding the boy in a bear hug while he tells police he stole the 9mm from his mother’s purse.

“My mom had that,” the boy says, pointing toward the weapon. “I stole that from my mom.”

In the footage, he also says he does not care if he goes to jail and relentlessly taunts officers on the scene.

“If you want a piece of me, come get it on, b****,” the boy says. “I don’t care if you call backup. I don’t care if I go to jail, b****.”

“We know you know that language — and you know that’s not appropriate,” the reading specialist said. “Mrs. Kovac’s NOT happy with that.”

You might well ask why the focus on bad language, when the child had already nearly killed a teacher? Perhaps the reading specialist was shellshocked by the entire episode.

It seems this child was already lost at the age of 6. Can a child who clearly has been exposed to terrible parenting be saved if rescued at that age? I would say it depends. It depends on whether he’s a psychopath. Let’s just say I wouldn’t want him mainstreamed. But what to do with a child who’s already shown such a propensity for evil?

The day of the shooting, multiple warnings that the boy had a gun were ignored:

Former assistant principal Ebony Parker was charged with eight felony counts of child neglect, one for each round in the gun, after prosecutors said she ignored repeated warnings and never ordered a search of the boy.

On May 21, 2026, just four days into the trial, Circuit Judge Rebecca Robinson dismissed every count, ruling that Parker’s inaction was not a crime under Virginia law.

The civil jury assigned her some level of responsibility with their decision, finding her grossly negligent.

The boy’s mother, Deja Nicole Taylor, was also charged. She bought the 9mm, and on the morning of the shooting the boy took it from her purse on a dresser, put it in his backpack, and brought it to school.

The shooting happened in January of 2023, three and a half years ago. The boy would be at least 9 years old now. He was placed with his great-grandfather, and I have no idea how he’s doing now.

I want to add a personal note, though. Reading about this boy brought up a memory for me. In the year 1965, I had a boyfriend who worked at a camp for poor children from Manhattan. The camp was rural and run by social workers. I visited him there and was shocked to notice that a certain number of the very young boys – who were probably around 6 or 7 years old – were already acting in an absolutely vile manner. The form it took was that, when female counselors (teenagers or women) passed by, the boys would grab at their private parts and shout obscenities.

I have no recollection of what was done to the boys, if anything. But I do recall their behavior – and this was sixty years ago.