The mother of a six-year-old American student who seriously injured his school teacher was sentenced Friday by Virginia state courts to two years in prison for parental neglect.
Taylor, 26, had already been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for illegal firearm possession.
The judge in Newport, Virginia, in the eastern United States, “believes that the circumstances warrant a sentence greater than the maximum six months in state guidelines,” according to a news release from local judicial authorities.
He therefore sentenced the defendant to five years in prison in addition to the 21 months in prison at the federal level, two of which were in prison; “the two sentences are to be served consecutively.”
His son brought a gun to his school in Virginia on January 6 and shot his teacher. The teacher, who was injured in his hand and chest, was in the hospital for two weeks.
Deja Taylor pleaded guilty in June to illegally obtaining a firearm and making a false statement on a government form required to purchase a firearm by stating that he had not used illegal drugs.
With the number of minors killed by firearms, pressure is growing in the United States to punish parents who often negligently provide access to these weapons.
Last week, an American teenager, tried as an adult despite being 15 at the time of the crime, was sentenced to life in prison for killing four students at his high school in 2021 with a gun offered by his parents in Michigan (North).
In rare cases, his parents were charged with involuntary manslaughter because they were accused of negligence and ignoring the warning signs of his actions.