NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – Until recently, the mother of the 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher at Richneck Elementary School didn’t have much of a criminal record. However, 10 On Your Side’s investigative team has learned she’s at the center of several police reports filed against the boy’s father.
Deja Taylor, 25, and Malik Ellison, 26, are the mother and father of the 6-year-old who shot his first-grade teacher, Abby Zwerner, inside her classroom on Jan. 6. Zwerner was seriously injured but survived. Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit against Newport News schools and several former administrators in April claiming they failed to protect her from the child.
The boy used his mother’s gun to shoot Zwerner. Prosecutors believe Taylor lied about using marijuana on a federal form when she bought the gun from Winfree Firearms Inc. in Yorktown on July 19, 2022.
On Monday, Taylor pleaded guilty to a pair of federal charges in connection to the gun: Unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. She’s scheduled to be sentenced in October.
Taylor is also charged in connection to the shooting at Richneck. She’s scheduled to go to trial in August on felony child neglect and misdemeanor recklessly leaving a loaded firearm as to endanger a child.
Taylor is being represented by Jim Ellenson and Gene Rossi. Both attorneys declined to comment on this story.
Ellison isn’t charged in connection to the Richneck shooting, but he is at the center of a traffic stop cited by prosecutors in the statement of facts filed in Taylor’s federal firearms case.
10 On Your Side reached out to Ellison through social media ahead of publication but did not receive a response.
According to that document, Taylor was pulled over for speeding on Richmond Road in April 2021, and Williamsburg police discovered drugs in the car – including marijuana edibles that were within reach of her then 4-year-old son. 10 On Your Side’s investigative team has learned that Ellison was also in the car during that traffic stop. Williamsburg police arrested Ellison and charged him with violating a protective order Taylor filed against him prohibiting him from contact with her and their son.
Ellison was found guilty of that charge in April 2022. The investigation into the traffic stop is ongoing, said Williamsburg Police Department Investigator John Heilman.
Taylor sought a protective order against Ellison in September 2020 after he assaulted her at her St. Thomas Drive apartment. Taylor told police that Ellison came to the home uninvited, forced his way into the apartment, hit her in the face, and threw her to the ground. Taylor told police that the day before the assault, she had warned Ellison not to come to her home, and that he had followed her to a McDonald’s on Oyster Point Road, according to court records obtained by 10 On Your Side.
Ellison told Newport News police that he was in town from Dallas, where he was living at the time, to take custody of his son. He said that he and Taylor agreed the boy should live with him, and that he’d come to her apartment to visit their child, court records state.
Ellison was convicted of assault and battery in connection to the September 2020 attack.
Taylor also reported that Ellison stalked her, showed up to her home with a gun, and assaulted her in October 2020. He was charged with buying a gun and being a person subject to a protective order, but that case was dismissed in Newport News Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
The September 2020 assault led Taylor to file for a protective order against Ellison, which barred him from contacting her or their son. Ten days after the April 2021 traffic stop in Williamsburg, Taylor asked a judge to remove the protective order, telling a judge that Ellison moved in with her so they could co-parent and so he could watch their son while she worked full time, court records show. It is unclear whether a judge amended the protective order.
Ellison was charged with domestic assault again in 2021, but Taylor wasn’t the victim. Ellison began living with a woman who he was in a relationship with in June 2021. That woman called Newport News police on Aug. 20, 2021 and told investigators he came to her home, put his hand around her neck, and threatened to kill her, court records state.
10 On Your Side will not name the woman, but our investigative team did reach out to her for comment. We received none prior to publication.
The woman told police the attack happened while she and Ellison were arguing about possible infidelity between him and Taylor, who was his ex-girlfriend at the time. The woman said when she confronted Ellison about the possible infidelity, he knocked her glasses off of her face. She ran into her bedroom and closed the door, but Ellison forced his way in. The woman said she backed away to create space, but Ellison followed her, pushed her onto the bed, put his hand around her neck, and threatened to kill her, according to court records.
The woman broke away from Ellison and went to her car to call police. While doing so, she said that Taylor came to her home and yelled, “It’s ok, I’ll be back!” The woman told police she felt that Taylor was threatening her. Taylor was not charged in connection to the assault, court records show.
A police report shows that the woman’s face was swollen, and she had visible red marks on her neck and shoulder. Ellison pleaded guilty to assault and battery in connection to the attack in August 2022.
That attack wasn’t the only time the woman claimed Ellison was violent toward her, court records show. The woman called Newport News police again on Sept. 21, 2021 and told investigators that Ellison held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her, according to court records.
The woman told police that she asked Ellison to leave after she found out he was sleeping with his son’s mother in her home while she was gone. She told police Ellison held a gun to the back of her head and said he would kill her before leaving the apartment on Sojourner Court in a red Chrysler, court records state.
Police pulled the Chrysler over and discovered that Taylor was driving, and Ellison was her passenger. At the time of the stop, there was still an active protective order against Ellison prohibiting him from contact with Taylor, court records show.
Police found a gun in the car, but Ellison denied pointing it at the woman. He was charged with brandishing a firearm at her, but that case was set aside in September 2022. He pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition in connection to the stop.
Ellison has also failed to appear on a misdemeanor offense in Newport News Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court three times in 2023. Newport News police say he is currently wanted on a charge of failing to appear. Anyone with information about Ellison should call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
