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Abby Zwerner: Virginia Teacher Shot By Six-Year-Old Files $40M Lawsuit
On Monday, nearly three months after a 6-year-old student shot Virginia teacher Abigail Zwerner, she filed a lawsuit seeking $40 million, alleging that school administrators ignored multiple warnings from staff.
While knowing the child “had a history of random violence,” assumed he was armed and a threat on the day of the killing.” Zwerner was shot by the student.
The complaint names as defendants the Newport News school board, the previous superintendent, George Parker III, the previous head of Richneck elementary school, Briana Foster Newton, and the previous assistant principal, Ebony Parker.
Abby Zwerner Files $40M Lawsuit
On January 6, Abigail “Abby” Zwerner, age 25, was shot in the hand and upper chest and was hospitalized for a total of two weeks as a result of her injuries.
The educator has been in the operating room for four separate procedures.
Richneck Elementary School is located in Newport News, which is around 180,000 people strong and is situated north-northwest of Virginia Beach. The child brought the gun to school in his backpack in Newport News.
After being shot by the unidentified youth, Ms. Zwerner made sure that her students were safe before calling for help.
Following the event, Police Chief Steve Drew referred to the officer as both a hero and a trooper.
The child is accused of stealing the firearm that had been legitimately obtained by his mother.
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According to the allegations made in the lawsuit, the young person took Zwerner’s cell phone and shattered it on the ground on January 4, two days before the incident occurred.
The school decided to remove the boy from class for one day beginning the following school day.
According to the lawsuit, the child went back to Richneck on January 6, but his mother did not accompany him to school as was necessary, and the school did not provide him with a “one-on-one companion.”
At 1:59 p.m., while Zwerner was sitting at a reading table in her classroom, the boy pulled out a pistol and began shooting.
Since then, the school board has decided to install metal detectors in all of the district’s campuses, including the Richneck Elementary School, which has 550 students.
However, neither the boy nor anybody else has been charged in connection with the incident, and the school board has now sacked the superintendent and accepted the resignation of the assistant principal.
Prosecutors have determined that the juvenile, whose identity has not been made public, will not be subject to any criminal charges. They have not mentioned whether or not there will be fees for adults.
After the shooting, the superintendent, George Parker III, was terminated from his position. Ebony Parker, who served as the assistant principal, handed in her resignation.
A lawyer for the boy’s parents stated that they were “dedicated to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of minors,” and that they had attempted to use the rifle that belonged to the boy’s mother to do it.
The lawyer also stated that the boy’s mother had tried to keep the gun out of reach of the boy.
Boy With Behavioral Issues
The lawsuit includes recent information about the child, who is only known by the alias John Doe, as well as an alleged pattern of behavior that is cause for alarm.
The child allegedly strangled and choked a teacher during his kindergarten year at Richneck in 2021-22, and as a result, he was kicked out of school and subject to the consequences of his actions.
During the same school year, the kid is accused of pulling up the dress of a female student who had fallen on the playground and then “began inappropriately caressing the child until they were scolded by a teacher.”
The child was moved out of Richneck and assigned to a different school within the district; however, he was given permission to come back to Richneck in order to enroll in Zwerner’s class during the school year 2022-2023.
After “chasing youngsters around the playground with a belt in an attempt to whip them and yelling at staff and teachers,” the complaint states that he was placed on a modified schedule in the fall of last year.
Because of the potentially dangerous nature of his behavior, at least one of his parents was required to accompany him each day when he went to school.
