A jury in Newport News, Virginia, has awarded $10 million to former Richneck Elementary first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner after she was shot by a 6-year-old student in January 2023.
The verdict was returned Thursday against Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at the school. Zwerner had sought $40 million, saying Parker ignored repeated warnings that the student had a gun in his backpack. A judge previously dismissed the school district’s superintendent and the principal as defendants.
Zwerner was shot while seated at a classroom reading table. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, underwent six surgeries, and does not have full use of her left hand. A bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains lodged in her chest.
The lawsuit alleged Parker had a duty to protect Zwerner and other students after being told about the gun and that she failed to investigate or act in the hours before the shooting. Zwerner’s attorneys said several staff members had informed Parker that the student might have a weapon.
“Who would think a 6-year-old would bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?” Zwerner’s lawyer Diane Toscano told jurors during the trial. “It’s Dr. Parker’s job to believe that is possible. It’s her job to investigate and get to the very bottom of it.”
Parker did not testify. Her attorney, Daniel Hogan, asked jurors to avoid judging decisions with the benefit of hindsight. “You will be able to judge for yourself whether or not this was foreseeable,” he said, urging the jury to evaluate choices based on what was known at the time.
The shooting occurred on the first day the student returned from a suspension for slamming Zwerner’s phone two days earlier. Zwerner testified she learned about the possible gun before recess from a reading specialist who had been tipped off by students. A few hours later the shooting occurred. Despite her injuries, Zwerner said she hustled her students out of the classroom before collapsing in the school office.
“I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven,” Zwerner testified of her experience after being struck. She later told reporters she no longer works for the school district and does not plan to teach again; she has since become a licensed cosmetologist.
Parker faces a separate criminal trial this month on eight felony child neglect counts, each carrying up to five years in prison if convicted. The student’s mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison on felony child neglect and federal weapons charges. Authorities say the boy retrieved the handgun from his mother’s purse, which had been placed on top of a dresser and was reachable only by climbing onto a drawer.
The case has drawn wide attention in the community and beyond, raising questions about school safety, supervision, and how administrators respond when staff report potential threats. The civil verdict holds an individual school official financially responsible, while related criminal proceedings continue.