A Virginia first grade teacher who was shot in the chest by one of her students was awarded $10 million in a civil lawsuit on Thursday.
Abby Zwerner, formerly a teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, filed the suit against school administrators a few months after the Jan. 6, 2023, shooting.
Zwerner initially demanded $40 million in damages and named several school administrators, accusing them of ignoring repeated warnings about the 6-year-old boy having a gun. While other school leaders were removed from the suit, then-assistant principal Ebony Parker remained a defendant.
On the day of the shooting, multiple teachers and students were warned about the child having a gun, and several of those reports made their way to Parker, according to the lawsuit. However, Parker took insufficient action, and the boy intentionally shot Zwerner in her classroom.
“I shot that b—h dead,” he allegedly told another teacher after firing the bullet. “I got my mom’s gun last night.”
The boy’s mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison after striking plea deals on state and federal charges in the case.
Parker is also facing a criminal trial, scheduled to begin this month, on eight counts of child neglect. The boy’s gun had eight bullets in it, but the weapon jammed after he fired the first round.
If Parker is convicted at trial, the insurance group expected to cover Zwerner’s payout could seek to dodge the payment — leaving Zwerner unlikely to receive the full award.
With News Wire Services
