Virginia Teacher Testifies in $40 Million Negligence Trial After 6-Year-Old Shot Her in Class
A Virginia teacher who survived a classroom shooting by a six-year-old student has taken the stand in the civil negligence trial against a former assistant principal accused of ignoring staff warnings about a firearm on campus. The proceedings began earlier this week in the Virginia state court.
Abigail Zwerner was seriously injured on January 6, 2023, while teaching her first-grade class at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, when the student allegedly pulled a handgun from his backpack and fired a single shot that passed through her hand and into her chest, collapsing one of her lungs. She was hospitalized for two weeks and underwent six surgeries.
Her lawsuit, filed three months after the incident, seeks $40 million in damages from the school’s former assistant principal, Ebony Parker, the only remaining defendant after other parties were dismissed on immunity grounds. The complaint alleges that Parker was warned several times by teachers and staff that the student might have a firearm, but did not act. One staff member allegedly told her the child had removed an object resembling a gun from his backpack before it could be searched.
According to the complaint, Parker dismissed those warnings, telling staff the child’s pockets were too small to conceal a handgun and that his mother would soon arrive to pick him up. Zwerner’s attorneys argue that her inaction amounted to gross negligence, particularly given the child’s documented history of violent behavior.
Court records state that the student had previously choked a teacher, lifted a classmate’s dress, and touched her inappropriately on the playground. Administrators had required him to attend class with a parent present because of those incidents, but on the day of the shooting, he was allowed to remain at school unsupervised.
On the witness stand, Zwerner recalled the moment she was shot and the trauma that followed. “I thought I was dying. I thought I had died,” she testified. She described losing consciousness as two colleagues tried to stop the bleeding and said she continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and fear of public spaces. Medical experts testified the bullet narrowly missed her heart and that her injuries were life-threatening, leaving her with limited mobility in her left hand. She has not returned to teaching since the shooting. Her psychiatrist told jurors she experiences recurring nightmares, social withdrawal, and difficulty feeling safe in public. Her twin sister described her as “not the person that she was.”
Parker’s attorney argued the shooting was not reasonably foreseeable and that no school official could have anticipated such an act by a six-year-old. The defense urged jurors to avoid hindsight and to consider whether Parker’s actions met a reasonable standard of care.
The case centers on the concept of gross negligence, which under Virginia law means more than ordinary carelessness. It refers to conduct showing a complete disregard for the safety of others, even when serious harm is possible. Zwerner’s attorneys contend Parker’s decision not to investigate credible reports of a firearm in a classroom met that standard.
A ruling in August 2023 allowed the lawsuit to proceed despite objections from the school district. The court rejected arguments that her injuries were covered by workers’ compensation, finding that being shot by a student was not a normal or expected risk of her job. That decision, along with the dismissal of other defendants on immunity grounds, narrowed the case to Parker and clarified that she could face individual liability.
Parker resigned from her position within two weeks of the shooting, the principal was reassigned to another school, and the superintendent was removed by the Newport News school board. The district has since implemented additional security measures.
The student’s mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for child neglect and firearms offenses after prosecutors determined the gun had been kept unsecured in her home.
Parker now faces eight felony counts of child neglect in a separate criminal case scheduled to begin next month. The civil trial remains underway in the Virginia state court.
