Parents of Lucia Bremer express support for Henrico School Board’s legislative priorities about gun safety

The parents of Lucia Bremer, a 13-year-old student at Quioccasin Middle School who was shot and killed while walking home from school, made a public comment on Thursday supporting the Henrico School Board’s legislative priorities for school and student safety.

Jonathan and Meredith Bremer wrote to the school board’s public forum stating their “strong support” for the ‘Safe Schools and Student Wellness’ section of the board’s 2024 legislative priorities, which the board approved at a meeting Oct. 26. They specifically emphasized the item about promoting legislation to enhance the safe storage of weapons and parental accountability.

Lucia Bremer was fatally shot on March 26, 2021 by a 14-year-old student while walking back from the Mills E. Godwin High School soccer fields with her friend. Bremer suffered nine gunshot wounds and passed away later that day at a local hospital. Her killer, Dylan Williams – now 16 years old – used the gun of the 52-year-old man he was living with, Richard Pierce.

“On March 26, 2021, 13-year-old Lucia and her friend were followed by another HCPS student as they left Godwin High School property. The student – a stranger to our daughter and to her friend – cornered Lucia, shot her at close range nine times, and ended her beautiful life,” Jonathan and Meredith Bremer wrote. “In the days that followed, we learned that the murder weapon was a handgun that had been left accessible in the boy’s home. Our minds went immediately to the idea that the adults in this student’s life had made a serious miscalculation.”

Pierce was charged in Oct. 2021 for contributing to the delinquency of a minor after authorities alleged the gun Williams used was not properly secured in the home where they both lived. However, he ultimately was found not guilty in Jan. 2022 after a Henrico judge said that there was insufficient evidence for a conviction.

Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor spoke out against the verdict the following day.

“The Court also found that by giving a ‘safety talk’ to a troubled young adolescent about gun safety, such was sufficient instead of simply locking away a lethal weapon in an appropriate manner,” she wrote. “I know the Bremers, the family of the victim, share my extreme disappointment and frustration.”

Williams pled guilty to murdering Bremer and was sentenced to 60 years in prison on April 14, 2023. Neuropsychology expert Salmaan Khawaja, who conducted a psychological evaluation of Williams, diagnosed Williams with antisocial personality disorder and said Williams told him that he had been fantasizing about killing someone or shooting up a school for a year leading up to March 2021.

Despite multiple encounters with the police – after Williams assaulted his mother, an at-home caregiver, a police officer, and brought a pocket knife to school – Williams never faced any convictions. He was hospitalized two separate times between 2018 and 2019. Williams also never received grief counseling or consistent mental health services despite going through significant trauma during his childhood, including watching his mother die from an asthma attack at age 12.

“We later learned that the killer had displayed dangerous and escalating behavior for years, that he had been charged with felonies and hospitalized multiple times after violent and disturbing episodes, and that he had been the subject of a school-initiated threat assessment,” Jonathan and Meredith Bremer wrote. “And yet, his guardian made the choice to keep a weapon, under-secured, in their home.”

The Bremers also noted that there have been multiple incidents of students bringing firearms into Henrico schools since their daughter was killed. A Godwin student was arrested for bringing a handgun to school in February of last year. Several incidents of students bringing guns to school also occurred at Highland Springs High School in recent years, with an incident in December of 2021, another in November of 2022, and an incident involving two students later that November.

“Unfortunately, Lucia’s killer bringing a handgun onto school property was not an isolated incident. Since that day, we have heard of an alarming number of students who have brought guns onto HCPS properties across the county,” Jonathan and Meredith Bremer wrote. “We know that many of these weapons were obtained by students from their own homes. For each of those incidents there is a parent or guardian who made a serious miscalculation about the storage of their weapon.”

In addition to promoting the safe storage of weapons, the school board’s legislative priorities for ‘Safe Schools and Student Wellness’ included supporting legislation that would strengthen school safety and fund school security technology and personnel, supporting more funding to increase school-based mental health professionals, and advocating for the expansion of school- and community-based resources available to families outside of school hours.

Tuckahoe District school board member Marcie Shea highlighted the Bremers’ support for the legislative priorities at the board meeting.

“I want to just draw my colleagues’ attention to the written comment that we received today prior to the meeting,” she said. “It was from two residents in my district in strong support of the safe schools and student wellness piece of the legislative agenda.”

Jonathan and Meredith Bremer also advocated for strengthening Virginia’s current Child Access Prevention law to ensure that gun owners are held accountable for safely securing their weapons.

“We have often [been] asked about what punishment the gun owner received in Lucia’s case. We share with them that the gun owner does not seem to have broken any laws, and then we watch their faces fall as they shake their heads in dismay. Virginia’s current Child Access Prevention law is inadequate and needs to be strengthened,” they wrote. “Responsible gun owners already take steps to ensure that their firearms will not be used inappropriately. Stronger legislation would compel gun owners whose firearms are under-secured to reevaluate how their weapons are stored and make appropriate changes.”

The Henrico community continues to mourn the death of Lucia Bremer. Field hockey teams from Godwin and Powhatan High School gathered on the evening of Oct. 12 to remember the life of Bremer and dedicate their field hockey game in her honor. Powhatan field hockey coach Stephanie Tyson said that Bremer was excited to start at Godwin and eventually play field hockey there. Bremer’s parents were presented with a framed jersey.

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.