Depressed Mother of 6-Year-Old Shooter Appears in Virginia Court.
The mother of a 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his teacher had a series of miscarriages and post-partum depression in the year before the shooting, her attorney said. She was arraigned on charges of child neglect and failing to secure the handgun her son used in the shooting. The mother wants to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors and hopes they will consider what he called “mitigating circumstances.” The boy has an “acute disability” and was under a care plan that included his mother, father or grandfather accompanying him to class every day. The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him.
