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- Teacher shot by 6-year-old student testifies in civil trial (abcnews.go.com)
Teacher Testifies in $40 Million Lawsuit Over Classroom Shooting
Newport News, VA – Former Richneck Elementary School teacher Abby Zwerner testified Thursday in her $40 million civil lawsuit, recounting the harrowing moments in January 2023 when a 6-year-old student shot her in her classroom. Zwerner, the final witness for the plaintiff, told the court she wasn’t certain the child had a real gun until he pulled it from his pocket and fired.
The lawsuit alleges that the then-assistant principal, Ebony Parker, displayed gross negligence by repeatedly failing to act on warnings that the student, identified as JT during the trial, possessed a firearm that day. Despite multiple requests to search the student, Parker allegedly did not permit it before the shooting occurred.
Zwerner’s testimony detailed how she first learned of the potential threat from reading specialist Amy Kovac. Kovac had previously testified that two students informed her JT had a gun in his backpack, a concern she relayed to Parker.
When questioned by her attorney why she didn’t directly inform Parker, Zwerner stated, “I knew that she was going to tell Dr. Parker.” Zwerner further explained that after she texted Kovac about seeing JT move something from his backpack to his pocket before recess, she again trusted Kovac would share this information with Parker.
Kovac’s earlier testimony indicated she searched JT’s backpack during recess but found no weapon, a result she said she anticipated based on Zwerner’s text. She also reported this outcome to Parker.
During cross-examination, Zwerner was asked if there was any point she doubted the gun’s authenticity. “The whole day, I was contemplating it could be real, but it also could not,” Zwerner responded, adding, “When you hear the word, he told students he brought a gun with him to school, there is that possibility.”
However, Zwerner clarified that the reality of the situation hit when, after recess and towards the end of the school day, the student produced the gun and shot her. The bullet pierced her left hand, which she had raised, before embedding in her chest, where it remains. Initially, Zwerner was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
“I thought I had died,” she recalled on the stand. “I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven.
But then it all got black and so I then thought I wasn’t going there.” She continued, “My next memory is, I see two co-workers around me, and I process that I’m hurt, and they’re putting pressure on where I’m hurt.”
The civil complaint asserts that Parker acted with gross negligence and “reckless disregard” for Zwerner’s safety.
The defense, during cross-examination, pressed Zwerner on her own actions and inactions on the day of the shooting. Zwerner confirmed she did not speak to the students who reported the gun, to JT, or directly to Parker, stating her trust in Kovac’s experience.
“I trusted Ms. Kovac.
She has 20, 30 years of teaching experience over my three, two-and-a-half years,” Zwerner said. She also confirmed she did not remove JT from her classroom or search his backpack.
Following Zwerner’s testimony, the defense moved to strike the case, arguing that the plaintiff had failed to establish Parker had a duty to protect Zwerner that she then breached through gross negligence. Newport News Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hoffman denied the motion, stating, “At this time, the court finds that there is sufficient and credible evidence that the defendant assumed the duty of care, breached that care in a grossly negligent manner, and that breach was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s harm. That will be all for the jury to decide.”
The defense is scheduled to begin calling its witnesses on Monday.
Both Zwerner and Parker resigned after the shooting. Three other defendants initially named in Zwerner’s complaint – two school administrators and the Newport News School Board – were dismissed from the lawsuit before the civil trial.
In a separate legal development, Parker faces eight counts of felony child abuse with disregard for life in connection with the shooting, with a criminal trial slated for next month. The student’s mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect and previously served 21 months on federal firearm and drug charges. Police confirmed the student brought the gun from home.
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