NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — A jury in Virginia on Thursday awarded $10 million to a former teacher, Abby Zwerner, who was shot by a 6-year-old student and later accused an ex-administrator of neglecting to act on warnings about the child's gun possession.
The jury returned its verdict against Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School. The shooting incident took place in January 2023 when Zwerner was at a reading table in her first-grade classroom. She had initially sought $40 million in damages.
Zwerner spent nearly two weeks hospitalized, underwent six surgeries, and still does not have full use of her left hand. A bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains lodged in her chest.
Parker was the only defendant to face the lawsuit, as a judge had previously dismissed the school district’s superintendent and the school principal from the case.
This traumatic event shook the military shipbuilding community in Newport News and raised questions nationally about how such a young child could access a firearm. Zwerner's lawsuit posited that Parker failed to take appropriate measures after being informed multiple times that the child had a gun in his backpack before the shooting.
“Who would think a 6-year-old would bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?” Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano, told the jury. “It’s Dr. Parker’s job to believe that that is possible. It’s her job to investigate it and get to the very bottom of it.”
Parker did not testify during the trial, with her attorney Daniel Hogan cautioning jurors against hindsight bias concerning the events. Hogan argued that the jury must evaluate the decisions made at the time of the incident, rather than with the knowledge acquired afterward.
The shooting occurred just after the student had returned from a suspension for an earlier altercation with Zwerner. Zwerner had learned about the gun from another staff member shortly before the incident but was tragically unable to prevent the shooting.
Suffering from long-term injuries, Zwerner is unlikely to return to teaching and has decided to pursue a career in cosmetology instead. Meanwhile, Parker is facing criminal charges for eight counts of felony child neglect related to her role in the incident.
The child’s mother has also been sentenced to prison for felony child neglect and federal weapons charges after the firearm used in the shooting was found in her possession.
