Teacher Shot by Six-Year-Old Files $40 Million Lawsuit

A Virginia teacher shot by a six-year-old filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school district, claiming they ignored warnings. 

Virginia teacher Abigail Zwerner filed the lawsuit Monday, alleging that school administrators ignored warnings from staff and students who said that the child had a firearm and was an imminent threat. 

Police noted that the shooting, which occurred on January 6th at Richneck Elementary school, was intentional. The student shot Zwerner with a 9mm handgun. 

The lawsuit claims that Richneck Assistant Principal Ebony Parker chose to “breach her assumed duty” to protect Zwerner, “despite multiple reports that a firearm was on school property and likely in possession of a violent individual.” Parker resigned following the shooting. 

The lawsuit also names the Newport News School Board as well as former district schools superintendent George Parker III, whom the board voted to remove.

Meanwhile, Zwerner is seeking a jury trial, also saying in her suit that she suffers from “physical pain and mental anguish.” Newport News Police commended Zwerner for leading roughly 20 students to safety despite being seriously wounded in her left hand and in her chest. 

Lawyers for Zwerner said that school leadership were aware of at least three different warnings that the student was believed to have a gun, with other students reporting that they had seen it leading up to the shooting. 

The lawsuit also points out that the student, identified as John Doe, allegedly had a pattern of troubling behavior. During the 2021-22 school year while in kindergarten, the student reportedly strangled and choked a teacher and was removed from school. 

That same year, he pulled up the dress of a female classmate who had fallen on the ground and “began to touch the child inappropriately until reprimanded by a teacher.”

He was transferred out of Richneck elementary school, but was allowed back for the 2022-23 school year. 

The suit claims “Teachers’ concerns with John Doe’s behavior was regularly brought to the attention of Richneck Elementary School administration, and the concerns were always dismissed.”

“Often when he was taken to the school office to address his behavior, he would return to the classroom shortly thereafter with some type of reward, such as a piece of candy,” it also says.

The lawsuit also states that the warnings were ignored. On January 4th, two days before the shooting, he slammed Zwerner’s phone into the ground, shattering it. He returned on January 6th after a one-day suspension, but his mother did not stay with him throughout the school day as required, and the school did not assign him a “one-on-one companion.” 

Zwerner even went to the assistant principal early in the day to report that the student appeared to be in a “violent mood” and had threatened to assault a classmate. The complaint states that Parker gave “no response,” with another teacher stating that Parker “essentially ignored Plaintiff’s concerns.”

When it was reported that the student might have a gun, Parker responded that his “pockets were too small to hold a handgun and did nothing.”

Another teacher told Parker that the student had shown a peer his gun but told him he “would hurt him if he told anyone.” When an employee asked for permission to search the student’s backpack, Parker allegedly “forbade” it. 

Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com