A Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student won a $10 million jury verdict against the elementary school’s former assistant principal.
Abby Zwerner was shot in the chest and hand as she read to students in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia in January 2023.
The student was previously diagnosed with an “acute” behavioral disorder after he allegedly choked another teacher with his bare hands.
A care plan required one of the parents to sit with the child in class every day.
Neither parent accompanied him in class the day of the incident.
Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school’s former assistant principal, Ebony Parker, and other school officials.
However, a judge dropped the school district’s superintendent and the school principal as defendants in the lawsuit.
Zwerner’s lawsuit claimed Parker ignored multiple warnings that the 6-year-old boy had a gun in his book bag. She alleged that Parker knew the child brought a gun to school and that another teacher tried to disarm him.
Zwerner spent two weeks in the hospital and underwent six surgeries. She doesn’t have full use of her hand.
The lawsuit said Parker had a duty to protect Zwerner and other teachers from harm after being informed about the gun. Zwerner’s attorneys said Parker failed to act in the hours before the shooting.
“Who would think a 6-year-old would bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?” Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano told 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 boy was transferred to a different school district. He now lives with a relative.
In 2023, the boy’s mother, Deja Nicole Taylor, was sentenced to 2 years in prison after being convicted on weapons charges.
A Newport News Circuit judge sentenced Taylor to a total of 5 years in prison, with 3 years suspended.
She also lost her parental rights.
A jury awarded $10 million to former first grade Virginia teacher Abby Zwerner, who was wounded after being shot by a 6-year-old student in 2023, in a civil case that accused the school's former assistant principal of ignoring multiple warnings the day of the shooting.… pic.twitter.com/wjdiGGM3Td
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) November 7, 2025
