By Ben Finley and Denise Lavoie

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.-- Prosecutors in the Virginia city where a 6-year-old shot his instructor in an elementary school classroom are examining whether the "actions or omissions" of any school employees could cause criminal charges, according to court documents released Tuesday.

Howard Gwynn, the commonwealth's attorney in Newport News, submitted a petition for a special grand jury to probe if any "security failures" added to the shooting at Richneck Elementary in January that seriously wounded teacher Abby Zwerner.

Gwynn wrote that an investigation might result in suggestions "in the hopes that such a situation never ever occurs once again."

Gwynn's petition was released a day after his office charged the young boy's mom with felony child disregard and a misdemeanor count of endangering a child by reckless storage of a gun. The kid utilized his mom's 9mm pistol to shoot Zwerner during class. Cops say the weapon was legally acquired.

Recently, Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school system, accusing school officials of gross neglect and of neglecting multiple cautions from instructors and other school workers that the young boy was equipped and in a "violent mood" on the day of the shooting.

Zwerner also alleges that school authorities knew the young boy "had a history of random violence" at school and at home, including an episode the year prior to when he "choked and strangled" his kindergarten teacher.

" Our claim makes clear that we believe the school department breached state law, and we are pursuing this in civil court," Diane Toscano, a lawyer for Zwerner, said Monday.

The district attorney's choice to investigate school workers for any criminal activity is the most recent fallout from the shooting, which sent shockwaves through Newport News, a shipbuilding city of about 185,000 individuals near the Chesapeake Bay.

Authorities Chief Steve Drew has consistently characterized the shooting as "intentional." He said there was no warning and no struggle prior to the child pointed the weapon at Zwerner and fired one round, striking her in the hand and chest.

Zwerner, 25, hustled her students out of the classroom prior to being hurried to the healthcare facility, where she remained for nearly 2 weeks.

Days after the shooting, school officials revealed that administrators at Richneck thought the kid might have had a weapon prior to the shooting occurred, however they didn't discover it in spite of searching his backpack.

At a subsequent school board conference, parents and instructors lambasted administrators for what they called a misdirected emphasis on participation over the security of children and personnel. They said trainees who attack classmates and personnel frequently deal with few effects, while Zwerner's shooting could have been prevented if not for a hazardous environment in which instructors' issues are ignored.

The school board fired the district's superintendent, while Richneck's assistant principal resigned from the school division. The elementary school's principal is still used by the district however no longer holds that position.

Richneck also installed metal detectors prior to it resumed on Jan. 30, three weeks after the shooting.

James Ellenson, the attorney for the 6-year-old's mother, stated in a declaration that she "has actually worked together from the first day of the incident."

He said the mom has no rap sheet and will be turning herself in before completion of the week.

" Most prosecutions are adversarial in nature, however we will make our best shots so that these procedures will be more collective than many," he stated, without providing specifics.

Ellenson did not talk about the charges versus her. He has stated her weapon was secured on a top rack in her closet and had a trigger lock.

The household has stated the young boy has an "severe impairment" and was under a care strategy "that included his mom or father going to school with him and accompanying him to class every day." The week of the shooting was the first when a moms and dad was not in class with him, the family stated.

The household said in the days after the shooting that the child was placed under health center care and getting "the treatment he needs."

Michelle Price, a spokeswoman for the Newport News Public Schools, did not immediately react with a talk about the criminal examination.

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