EXCLUSIVE: Virginia jury awards $10m to teacher shot by six-year-old student

A jury in Virginia has awarded $10 million to former teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot by a six-year-old student after school administrators allegedly ignored repeated warnings that the child had a gun.

The jury sided with Zwerner, 28, in her civil suit against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, finding that Parker failed to act despite multiple staff alerts on the day of the 2023 shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.

Zwerner was shot as she sat at a reading table with her first graders. The bullet narrowly missed her heart, left her needing six surgeries, and remains lodged in her chest. She still has limited use of her left hand.

Her attorney, Diane Toscano, said the verdict “sent a message that what happened at the school was wrong and is not going to be tolerated, that safety has to be the first concern at school.”

Zwerner had sought $40 million in damages, arguing that Parker’s inaction directly led to the shooting.

“Who would think a six-year-old would bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?” Toscano asked the jury. “It’s Dr Parker’s job to believe that is possible. It’s her job to investigate it and get to the very bottom of it.”

The child’s mother, who owned the handgun used in the attack, was sentenced earlier this year to four years in prison for child neglect and firearms charges. No charges were filed against the child. Authorities said he accessed the gun by climbing onto a drawer to reach his mother’s purse on top of a dresser.

Gun safety advocates said the case underscores the urgent need for stronger firearm storage laws.

“Abby Zwerner was shot by her 6-year-old student using a gun from home,” the Newtown Action Alliance wrote, noting that “76 percent of school shooters get their guns from their homes or relatives.”

“This case is a grim reminder that America’s gun crisis is not confined to adults or mass shootings, it’s now entering classrooms,” added the group’s chair, Po Murray. “Safe storage saves lives, and yet most states still fail to require it. We need national standards that prevent children from accessing guns in the first place.”

Zwerner has since left teaching and become a licensed cosmetologist. Cases of children under 10 carrying out school shootings remain exceedingly rare, fewer than 20 have been documented in the US since the 1970s.