A Virginia jury found that an assistant principal acted with gross negligence when a then-6-year-old student shot his first-grade teacher in a lawsuit filed over the 2023 shooting.
The jury awarded the teacher, Abby Zwerner, $10 million in damages, with award interest beginning on June 1, 2024.
The panel of three men and four women sided with former instructor Abigail Zwerner and awarded her $10 million in damages stemming from her wounding on Jan. 6, 2023, at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.
“We the jury on the issues joined find in favor of plaintiff, Abigail Zwerner, and assess her damages at $10 million and award interest beginning on June 1, 2024” the court clerk read.
Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest by the boy, who could’ve been stopped by assistant principal Ebony Parker, the teacher said in her lawsuit. (RELATED: Authorities Reveal 6-Year-Old’s Shocking Reaction After Shooting Teacher)
The bullet went through Zwerner’s left hand, which she had lifted, and then into her chest, where it remains. She was initially hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.
A Richneck teacher testified last week that she informed Parker about students telling her that the boy had a gun in his backpack.
Another instructor testified that she relayed the same concern to Parker after a student alerted her to the boy having a gun.
The weapon wasn’t taken from him until he shot Zwerner.
The student brought the gun from home, police said. His mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect in connection with the shooting, which she is currently serving. Taylor was also sentenced to 21 months in prison on federal firearm and drug charges, which she has since served.
During the defense’s closing arguments, an attorney for Parker said the case is about “real-time judgments, not hindsight judgments,” and the low likelihood that a 6-year-old boy would have a firearm that day and shoot his teacher.
“It was a tragedy that, until that day, was unprecedented, it was unthinkable and it was unforeseeable, and I ask that you please not compound that tragedy by blaming Dr. Parker for it,” the defense attorney, Sandra Douglas, said.
In a separate legal matter, Parker is facing criminal charges of felony child abuse and neglect for her alleged indifference. Parker was charged with eight counts of felony child abuse with disregard for life in connection with the shooting — one count for each bullet that was in the gun, according to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
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We are likely to see more of this as a result of incompetent (spelled DEI) hires.