Virginia school teacher shot by six-year-old student awarded $10m in damages

Abigail Zwerner alleged that assistant principal at Newport News elementary school ignored reports that a firearm was on school property

A Virginia school teacher who was shot by her six-year-old student in 2023 was awarded $10m in damages by a jury on Thursday, concluding a negligence lawsuit she brought against a school administrator.

Abigail Zwerner alleged that an assistant principal at the Newport News elementary school where she used to teach ignored multiple reports that a firearm was on school property and likely in the possession of the boy who shot her in January 2023.

Police said the boy had taken the 9mm handgun from his home and carried it to school in his backpack. The boy removed the gun once in his classroom and fired a single bullet at Zwerner, hitting her in her hand and chest. Zwerner, who evacuated students from her classroom even after she was shot, has had five hand surgeries and still has a bullet lodged in her chest.

Lawyers for Ebony Parker, the former assistant principal at Richneck elementary, where the shooting took place, argued during the trial that she could not have foreseen the shooting.